18.05.2012

Bulgaria is in the group of fiscally stable EU members along with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia (BELL). This is said by the renowned Polish economist Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz in a lecture delivered at the London School of Economics. In his presentation "The Eurozone's awkward threesome: fiscal stance, macroeconomic stability and growth" he shares his views on the link between unsustainable fiscal policies and increasing government debts. In a comparative analysis presenting the macroeconomic indicators of two groups of states with the acronyms „BELL" (Bulgaria and the three Baltic countries) and „PIIGS" (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), Prof. Balcerowicz gives as an example the coherent policy of the Bulgarian government aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability and sustainable fiscal discipline against the background of the negative development of the countries in the second group of states.

The Polish economist discards the hypothesis about the influence of cultural and regional factors when laying down and implementing rigid fiscal policies. He illustrates this with the difference in the state of public finance in two neighbouring countries as Bulgaria and Greece. The term "BELLs" is more and more used to illustrate the good fiscal stability indicators of Bulgaria and of the three Baltic countries with a similar development and functioning currency board arrangement (Estonia joined the single currency on 1 January 2011).

You can find Prof. Balcerowicz's presentation on the following address.