Europe’s fiscal hawks, including Bulgaria, are projected to be the five fastest-growing economies in 2013, the country’s former finance minister wrote in an article for The Wall Street Journal.

“The European Union economies that have experienced the highest growth in the past three years—Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden—all take austerity seriously. The European Commission's Winter 2013 forecast shows a similar trend. The five fastest-growing economies in Europe are projected to be Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania—all fiscal hawks,” Djankov’s article argues.

It points out that in 2009, Bulgaria's budget deficit was 4.4% of GDP, above the Maastricht limit of 3%.

Following cuts in government expenditure and a pension reform that increased the mandatory retirement age by two years, the budget deficit fell to less than 1% last year.

“Yet Bulgaria's economy has recorded 12 consecutive quarters of positive growth, one of only four such economies in Europe,” the former finance minister stresses.

Djankov disagrees with those analysts, who say that the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, in which he served as deputy prime minister and finance minister, fell last month due to its austerity drive.

“The real reason is our failure to reform sectors like energy and health care, and to force austerity upon them, too,” Simeon Djankov argues.

FULL TEXT of Djankov's article for WSJ READ HERE

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