Fin Min Abandons Plans for VAT Cut in 2013
Bulgaria's finance minister Simeon Dyankov said explicitly Value Added Tax (VAT) in the country will remain unchanged at 20% next year.
"Considering the higher revenue we collect, we could decrease the VAT rate, but to my surprise, the majority and the opposition in parliament do not want this to happen. They do not consider it a good idea," Dyankov told private-held broadcaster bTV in an interview on Wednesday.
The finance minister added that the ruling party GERB had advised him to focus on increasing people's incomes instead.
At the start of its term in office in 2009, GERB's centre-right government pledged to cut VAT to 18% in 2010 and by a further 2.0% by 2013. A year later, however, faced with the need to plug a budget gap, it dropped these plans.