"10 years ago we should have been in the Eurozone. There is no true political narrative, there is total chaos and a loss of a valuable moment. The political interest in this procrastination is now visible, as is the economic interest from some slightly more gray circles. Over the past 5 years we have managed to break the state finances so much that even with the budgets disguised, the deficit is very heavy and clear", said economist Preslav Raykov on "Denyat ON AIR".
According to him, the real percentage of the deficit is over 3.
"The Eurozone does not want someone who can bring instability, to join. Political spending has its impact on the state's balance sheet. To a large extent, the government with a finance ministry led by Assen Vassilev is also to blame. Social spending and living expenses have increased enormously," added Raykov for Bulgaria ON AIR.
He is of the opinion that we have covered the inflation criterion, but the countries in the Eurozone see through our "games".
"We should have requested an additional convergence report with all the realities and consequences that would have been indicated in it. It would be better to have the report and do our job in these two years. But that's not why we want it - because in two years, apart from making things worse, we won't improve them," the guest commented.
Even if the assessment had been "no", we would have seen why they wouldn't let us in, Raikov is categorical.
"I am "for" returning the VAT to 20%. When you have such an unstable government, it is disastrous to touch the tax system. The collection should come from more economic activity, it doesn't happen quickly. We should have been told clearly what to work on, while now we are still making mistakes," the economist explained.