Socialists Accuse Incumbents of  Scandalously Preparing  New Bln 8 Euro Foreign Debt

Sofia, February 11 (BTA) - The incumbents are scandalously
preparing a new foreign debt for eight billion euro in order to
secure the budget, financial luxury and peace of mind, the BSP -
Left Bulgaria parliamentary group told the media in Parliament
in a Wednesday statement.

On Tuesday night the socialists received the agenda for the
Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee's Wednesday meeting.
There was an item on the agenda, which was previously not
present. Suddenly the incumbents propose to the Budget Committee
and Parliament for the Government to take out another eight
billion euro in foreign debt in 2015, said socialist MP Roumen
Gechev.

The scandal is multidirectional and adopting the taking of huge
debt, which the Bulgarian citizens will have to pay over the
course of 20-30 years shows disrespect towards Parliament and
the Budget Committee, Gechev said. On the other hand, this being
done in order to secure a deceptive standard for the Bulgarian
people, he said, quoting expert calculations, made by
socialists, which show that each newborn child will have to pay
10,000 in government debt.

Gechev recalled that on February 6, the incumbents have signed
an agreement with intermediaries for a debt, which consisted of
170 pages. Gechev also mentioned that one of the banks chosen is
HSBC, which was recently compromised in the news. "How is it
possible for the Bulgarian State to negotiate and sign
agreements with a bank, against which court proceedings are
being launched and because of which there are ongoing hearings
in the US, Great Britain, Switzerland, France, Argentina and
Mexico?" the socialists ask. According to them, the Government
has signed a preliminary agreement for issuing eight billion
euro in debt in the upcoming years, without having consulted the
specialized parliamentary committees.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is firmly against burdening
the domestic economy with such a debt and will do everything
possible to prevent this, Gechev said. Rough preliminary
assessments show that this would place the country in the danger
zone, which is a debt comprising 60 per cent of GDP. The MP
noted that this goes against the adopted 2015 National Budget
Act, as well as the Government and Finance Ministry's
projections that the government debt will be kept within 30 per
cent of GDP in the worse case scenario. The decision puts the
financial stability over the next few years at risk, Gechev
said.

Agreeing with the proposal translates into giving the Government
a blank cheque, said Left MP Zhelyo Boychev. He explained that
what the incumbents will try to borrow amounts to Bulgaria's
current debt. According to him, the debt will allow the
incumbents to avoid the excessive deficit.

The socialists saw a correlation between the new debt proposal
and the time when pressure is being exerted on Bulgaria,
directly or indirectly, to increase military spending and
potentially participate in military action in close proximity -
Ukraine and the Middle East.

Budget and Finance Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova (GERB)
described Gechev's statements as completely false. She denied
his allegations that the Government wants to double the debt and
explained that the 16 billion leva are for a three year period
and the way their ratification is being requested is the same as
it has been before. Some 14 billion leva are needed to
refinance old debt, which has reached 23 billion leva so far.
Only four billion leva of the total sum are planned to be used
to cover deficits in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Stoyanova explained.

Debt does not cause deficit - it is the way to finance it, she
said, adding that the 2015 National Budget Act includes how much
the deficit, while its projections for next year and the year
after are included in the Government's three year programme. She
went on to say that there is no urgency and MPs will be able to
ask their questions during the Committee's Wednesday meeting.