`I do not know why everybody expects that we will sign the agreement with IMF for one week after the global changes that followed the assaults in New York and Wasington,` the Bulgarian Finance Minister Velchev told journalists, quoted by Dnevnik Daily. `I did not expect to sign the agreement and that is why I am not disappointed. I am optimistic about signing the agreement with the International Monetary Fund soon,` he added. `The Bulgarian government should reduce the budget deficit to 0.5% of the GDP for the current year as well as sustain the same level in 2002,` Jerald Schiff, International Monetary Fund mission leader for Bulgaria, said. The options for budget deficit currently stand at 1%, 1.5% and 2% of the GDP. `The new stand of the IMF is a bit conservative and too strict for a country with high external debts,` macroeconomists commented. Negotiations for the new agreement will continue after the end of this mission. `No agreement will be made by the end of the mission`s visit,` Jerald Schiff told reporters. He had concluding talks on September 26 with Finance Minister Velchev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Vassilev and the Deputy Prime Minister and Social Minister Shuleva. The purpose of the meeting was to clarify and plan the future steps to be undertaken. The ministers looked concerned after the talks. The date of the next visit is not clear yet. At a closing press conference, the IMF mission leader Jerald Schiff said that Bulgaria needs to keep the Currency Board and maintain stable fiscal policy. He added that Bulgaria is not in a critical situation, Info Radio reported.

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