Bulgaria is cutting the monthly payment of BGN 65 to refugees.

According to reports of private TV station bTV, the measure is explained with the fact that refugees are already provided with three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) instead of two (lunch and dinner), as was the case earlier.

Bulgaria is obliged to provide food and shelter to people seeking protection in the country, according to the report.

The TV station reminds that meals are cooked at refugee centers as of 2014.

According to Nikola Kazakov, Chair of the State Agency for Refugees, refugees are granted protection equaling the guaranteed social minimum for Bulgarian nationals. The guaranteed minimum income in Bulgaria stands at BGN 65.

Refugees in Bulgaria are worried that they will no longer have pocket money, especially in the case of falling ill.

Although refugees have the rights of medically insured people in Bulgaria, most pharmaceuticals require supplementary payment apart from the reimbursement by the National Health Insurance Fund.

Bulgaria’s State Agency for Refugees claims that no refugees have been denied medical services.

According to Kazakov, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio, some 10 000 people will be granted refugee/humanitarian status by end-2015.