MPs of various political forces described the two-year, USD 300 M stand-by loan approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in support of Bulgaria's economic programme as "positive" and "necessary."

Parliamentary Budget Committee Chairman Ivan Iskrov MP of the ruling Simeon II National Movement said this is a major success for the Bulgarian Cabinet, considering the Fund's policy in favour of short-term loans. He sees the immediate release of the first tranche of USD 40 M as a positive signal to all capital markets. "This is an adequate response to the attempts to destabilize this country," he noted.

Former Finance Minister Muravey Radev, MP of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, said that the IMF Executive Board was expected to make such a decision and he was very pleased it was adopted. According to Radev, the agreement is important and Bulgaria needs it. He does not approve the fact that on a number of key points of the agreement the Bulgarian Government has "gone into reverse, practically throwing Bulgaria years back." "Almost everything we have earned so far in our agreements with the Fund has already been eliminated, and this is in practice a treaty in which the Fund entirely dictates its terms," Radev argued.

According to Georgi Pirinski MP of Coalition For Bulgaria, the conclusion of the agreement is a good thing because it is objectively required by the state of the national economy. "Regrettably, both the foreign trade deficit and the condition of the real sector will require such support from the IMF in future as well. These two years give us a chance yet again to try and put our economy in order," Pirinski added.

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