[size=75:121tvymd]novinite 22 January 2010

Bulgaria President: Unemployment Crisis Set to Worsen

Bulgaria President Georgi Parvanov has stated that unemployment will continue to grow over the financial crisis and that this will become the main social problem in Bulgarian society.

Parvanov, speaking to the Bulgarian Industrial Association in Sofia at a discussion entitled ‘Bulgaria – what direction to take after the crisis’, said that Bulgaria is currently in the worst period of the economic crisis. He added that "
we need immediate action to combat the unemployment rate today...for many years, labor markets will not be able to catch up with the pre-crisis situation.”

Parvanov continued that the only way to stop the unemployment rate rising even further is to to improve the employability of employees by introducing apprenticeship and training programs and initiatives to develop entrepreneurship. He added that Bulgaria needs to create a national consensus project involving NGOs, unions, academics and universities to plan what will happen in post-crisis Bulgaria.

"
If you look at the time after the crisis, what I find particularly important is the expansion and more effective targeting of public investment to create new and quality jobs,"
Parvanov stated.

He concluded that the financial crisis has heightened the social sensitivity of European leaders and that for Bulgaria to have a healthy economy in post-crisis times it needs to fully cooperate with the EU, increase the effectiveness of institutions, introduce strict fiscal discipline, reduce bureaucracy and improve the administrative process.