Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski has suggested that the problem of investor confidence in Bulgarian institutions has not been solved.

In a Thursday interview for Nova TV Lukarski noted that investors were complaining about corruption and the failure to carry out the reform of the judiciary, as well as fears that courts were subject to external influence.

He also cited licensing system as an obstacle delaying the activity of some companies.

Bulgaria’s Economy Minister said that the government was implementing a program aimed at alleviating the administrative burden, adding that investors were positive about the efforts in this direction.

Lukarski claimed that foreign investment in Bulgaria had increased in the first quarter of 2015 from the same period of 2014, stressing that the total exceeded the remittance rate, the amount of money sent home by migrants.

He argued that the main problems in the fight against the informal economy were schemes aimed at the evasion of taxes and other payments by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Lukarski made clear that the Economy Ministry mulled increasing the minimum threshold for VAT registration from BGN 50 000 to BGN 200 000 to encourage payments by small and medium companies, against an EU VAT registration threshold of EUR 100 000.