A new mission of the International Monetary Fund arrives on Monday to hold talks with the Bulgarian Government. It will only deal with budget discussions. The IMF Resident Representative to Sofia, Piritta Sorsa, commented that `the Bulgarian economy experiences the changed international situation following the September 11 terrorist attacks and it is impossible to predict how long this will continue`.
`Demand in Europe is slowing down after the terrorist attacks, which has an impact in Bulgarian exports`, Sorsa said. At the same time, imports will grow, which poses a certain risk for Bulgaria`s current account.
`We are concerned with the current account deficit and in this context we are discussing with the Bulgarian Government the need to tighten the fiscal policy,` Sorsa said. `Our recommendation is to keep the deficit at 4 or 5% of GDP, which will be discussed in the talks this week`.
Another mission will probably come in November to continue with the preparation of a new agreement.
`We shall try to reach an agreement on the macroeconomic framework and advance in the negotiations on an agreement while the next mission will continue with a more detailed discussion of the rest elements in the programme,` Sorsa said.

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