Bulgarian Finance Minister Djankov's Neo-Liberal Banter

Novinite Insider » EDITORIAL | Author: Ognian Kassabov |June 14, 2011, Tuesday // 12:24
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Finance Minister Djankov's Neo-Liberal Banter

With recovery of the Bulgarian economy are fragile at best and state revenue coming under estimates, all that Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov can come up with is a buch of measures that divests the state of responsibility.

What is more worrisome, that comes substantiated by shallow neo-liberalist arguments that have the misfortune of being both untrue and easily absorbed by the Bulgarian public, having a skewed view of what capitalism is about, after 45 years of state-directed economy.

In a move that only add to perceptions of him as one who just wants to sell state assets in order to fill in holes in the budget, without any thought for strategic investment on the part of the state, Djankov said Tuesday to the National TV:
“Any moment is a good one for privatization, for the state is not a good husband and owner.”

Declaring the state a bad proprietor as such can only be manifest ideology. Of course, privatization is in due order for specific cases, but offering such blanket arguments only implies dogmatic thinking.

Then you have the famed Financial Stability Pact currently under review by Parliament that, if adopted, will enshrine in the Bulgarian Constitution provisions that will severely limit the government’s power to lead the economic and fiscal policy of the country.

My point here is not to take the other side on the ideological and somewhat tiring state vs. market debate.

I want to suggest that simply by selling assets, collecting revenue come what may, filling budget potholes, and divesting the government of means to influence and stimulate economic life, one will hardly achieve a significant and sustainable level of economic prosperity.

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Tags: Simeon Djankov, privatization, Financial Stability Pact, growth, recovery, revenue

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