BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom

Report by BTA, Bulgarian news agency - It is crucial for this country that it sign an agreement with the IMF since economic growth depends on it. The absence of such an agreement will put off major foreign investors, former finance minister and Union of Democratic Force (UDF) [SDS in Bulgarian] MP and deputy chairman Mouravei Radev said after the Tuesday meeting of the party's top leaders.

An IMF mission arrived here last week to start the negotiations with the new government. It was not long before differences between the two negotiating sides surfaced. Economy Minister Nikolai Vasilev said the negotiations are difficult due to the changed economic environment in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US and the need to alter the macro-economic forecasts of the cabinet.

Radev said the United Democratic Forces (UDF) [ODS in Bulgarian] are prepared to lend their economic programme to the incumbents and will commit to its implementation so that a second round of talks with the IMF can be held next month.

UDF is concerned about the negative turn that the talks have taken, Radev said, adding that they may even end without an agreement. In his view, the team that is negotiating with the IMF is guilty of inexperience.

The fund is not clear about the cabinet's position and its governance programme. There is also no clarity on the government's budgetary and tax policies for 2002, Radev said.

UDF National Executive Council member Nikola Nikolov said the results, or the lack of such, from the talks with the IMF have done away with the myth about the professionalism of the incumbents. He also said the UDF will insist for an agreement with the IMF.

UDF is concerned about the inaction of parliament which jeopardizes the accession talks with the EU. Finance Minister Milen Velchev will have to defend in Brussels the pre-accession economic programme which the UDF cabinet presented in mid-2001 before the EU, Radev said. The programme contains the philosophy for the country's economic development in the next three years. He was concerned that nothing has been said about this issue.

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