At a closed discussion in the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance on Monday renown Bulgarian economists met with the deputy minister of finance Ana Mihaylova to discuss with her possible future sources and forms of financing in 2010 when it is expected, again, the budget to end with a deficit because of the drop of tax revenues as well as because of the contraction of economic activity in the country. All participants, among which Georgi Angelov from the Open Society Institute, Emil Harsev, Kalin Hristov deputy governor of the National Bank and Vladimir Karolev, were unanimously against assistance from the IMF.

Instead, they discussed opportunities for finance from other international institutions like the World Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank. And also, through privatisation through the exchange market of state companies, mainly in the energy sector. The economists also discussed with the Ministry of Finance opportunities for emission of euro-obligations.

The press centre of the Ministry announced that by October the state debt was less than 5 bn euro of which almost a billion and a half is the internal debt and a little over 3 bn is the foreign debt.