Economists and NGOs ponder the setting up of a mandatory disaster insurance scheme in Bulgaria, reports bTV.

Their estimations show that if all owners paid for their real estate a mandatory annual fee of BGN 10 and 30, the state could have at its disposal between BGN 40 and 60 M each year to help disaster stricken residential areas.

The sum would be only used for helping people in disaster areas. The fund would be out of the state budget and would be overseen by the insurance companies. 

A resident of the town of Dobrich, which was hit by a flood in June and is still recovering, got only BGN 325 in state aid, but is skeptical. “I don't trust them,” Kolcho Kolev told bTV. “Many funds disappeared like this. I hear they are taking money from the pension funds to cover the budget deficit.”

Ralitsa Agayn, deputy chair of the Financial Supervision Commission is also somewhat skeptical and does not support the idea of forcing people to pay. “I believe in market mechanisms and only people who can afford it, should buy disaster insurances,” she said.