Bulgaria economy at point of no return: Over reliance on nuclear and coal? No sustainables

What we are seeing time and again is governments when they run businesses, they have too much inefficiency, they have too many layers, we’ve never seen a model of a governemnt running a business as efficient as a corporate sponsor. It’s sad and I feel sorry for these people I mean their bills have gone up tremendously.

                                                                        Image source : http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/belen_referendum

The comment comes as several thousand people took to the streets across Bulgaria on Tuesday to protest against the right-wing government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Earlier on Monday, Bulgaria’s unpopular finance minister, Simeon Djankov, was removed from office after protests over high electricity bills snowballed into anti-government demonstrations.

“We’ve lived through communism and remember the personality cult towards (the dictator) Todor Zhivkov. But what we have now surpasses it — it’s Boyko for breakfast, Boyko for lunch, Boyko for dinner, while people don’t have anything to eat. We’re fed up,” a protester was quoted as saying.

Press TV has conducted an interview with economic expert Roland Amore to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Many thanks for joining us here on Press TV sir. Now looking at the government’s plan for privatization of many public sector services specifically with regards to utilities it’s quite clear that the public is not happy with this move. What do you think the government can do now?

Amore: Well, you know the government, first of all thank you for having me on. The government has limited options, you’ve got to remember when they renationalize or if they renationalize basically in providing these services at a much cheaper price they don’t have the ability to do so. From a balance sheet or a revenue statement it’s really a subside.

What you see across Europe, you see it in Spain, you see it in Germany, you see it in Greece is decades of massive-state spending, has brought them to the point where they can no longer afford it.

I mean if Bulgaria wants to renationalize its utilities and subsidize the utility rate that puts an economic strain on them. Most of the European Union they’re at the last bit of financial recourses that they have. They have to look at other solutions. It’s either that or the countries themselves will go bankrupt.

It’s an unfortunate circumstance that has come to this but it’s the result of decades, not years but decades of massive-state spending which was done with good intentions. The problem is it defied good economics. It’s unfortunate but that’s what occurred.

Press TV: Right but if cost-saving and efficiency is what is at stake here. Specifically with regards to utility services like electricity over here, wouldn’t it be better for government not just to go automatically for the privatization option? There are other options such as cleaning up in house, making services a lot leaner as far as employment goes and more efficient in terms of management.

Amore: You know it’s not a matter of efficiency, it’s a matter of survival. I think what you will find is whatever the private cost of providing that service or product is probably the cheapest that can be done in a good economics model.

What we are seeing time and again is governments when they run businesses, they have too much inefficiency, they have too many layers, we’ve never seen a model of a governemnt running a business as efficient as a corporate sponsor. It’s sad and I feel sorry for these people I mean their bills have gone up tremendously.

It’s not a matter of efficiency; it’s a matter of survival for these governments and it’s a terrible place to be caught in but I think that’s the economic reality.

Press TV: Right but it’s also a matter of the survival of these people.

VG/JR

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/19/289831/bulgaria-economy-at-point-of-no-return/

February 20, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized