Bulgaria's Labor Minister Totyu Mladenov has joined the chorus of senior government officials declaring that they are "highly optimistic" about the prospects of raising the minimum.

"We are all optimistic," Mladenov told reporters after taking part in a meeting of the parliamentary group of the ruling center-right party GERB.

The government has been toying with the idea of raising the budget sector salaries and the retirement pensions, with Labor Minister Mladenov and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov exchanging statements on the topic, while analysts have hinted that a government-declared raise of the minimum wage might be expected over the summer in a move to beef up voter support for GERB ahead of the presidential and local elections in the fall of 2011.

The government appears to be inching closer towards a minimum salary raise, as, speaking on Monday, Finance Minister Djankov declared that he is also an "optimist" on many issues.

The Deputy Chair of GERB's parliamentary group Valentin Nikolov also said he was optimistic regarding the much-anticipated raise.

He said he agreed that the standard of living of the majority of the Bulgarians is worsening but that the ruling party and the government are considering ways to compensate them.

Bulgaria's minimum monthly salary is BGN 240, and the syndicates have been pressing the government to increase it to BGN 270-290.

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