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FACTBOX: Economic plans of Bulgaria's main political parties

SOFIA
Sun Jul 5, 2009 4:29am EDT

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria held a parliamentary election Sunday.

World

All key parties hope to maintain macroeconomic stability by preserving the currency board regime and the 1.95583 lev per euro peg, introduced after a financial meltdown in the mid-1990s.

Here are the key points of their economic programmes:

GERB

- revise the 2009 budget to cut spending and start immediate talks with the International Monetary Fund for an aid package

- aim for balanced budgets

- cut social insurance payments by up to 5 percentage points from 33.6 percent

- work toward an accelerated entry to ERM-2 (european rate mechanism)

- freeze projects for which no financing has been secured

- invest in education

BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY (BSP)

- sees no need for IMF aid for now

- maintain budget surpluses

- raise average monthly pay to 485 euros from about 300 now

- keep unemployment below 7.5 pct, create 100,000 new jobs

- push ahead with major infrastructure projects

- keep inflation down by freezing prices of state-regulated monopolies

- aim for ERM-2 entry in 2010

MOVEMENT FOR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS (MRF)

- cut spending, avoid budget deficits

- improve tax collection and tighten control of spending

- improve EU aid absorption

- keep current tax levels

- cut social security payments once the crisis is over

- allow for wage raises in line with productivity gains

- boost infrastructure projects to keep unemployment low

BLUE COALITION:

- cut spending to 38 percent of GDP from 40 percent now

- cut value added tax and social insurance contributions

- adopt the euro by 2013

- invest in construction of highways

- freeze the Belene nuclear power plant project, the South Stream gas pipeline and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline

NATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR STABILITY AND PROGRESS (NMSP)

- seek a precautionary agreement with the IMF

- aim for a quick ERM-2 entry and eurozone entry by 2013

- cut spending to 35 percent of GDP

- cut social security payments by 5 percentage points

- cut VAT to 18 percent from 20 once the crisis is over

(Compiled by Tsvetelia Ilieva and Irina Ivanova)



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