Asen Vassilev Rejects PM Radev’s Claim of an Empty Treasury

Former Finance Minister and co-chair of We Continue the Change, Asen Vassilev, has rejected Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s claim that the government inherited an empty state treasury. He cited a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on 30 April.

Responding to Radev’s remarks that “there is no money left in the treasury” and that the government would focus on improving revenue collection and reducing expenditure, Vassilev said:

“To be absolutely precise, I will quote Mr Radev and his government. On 29 May, they published an official statement from the Ministry of Finance saying that they received the treasury on 30 April with €6 billion 803 million 540 thousand in it. That is the fiscal reserve. Euros, I beg your pardon. So Mr Radev and his government received the treasury with €6 billion 803 million 540 thousand in it. That is not an empty treasury.
The mandatory funds that must be maintained — the Silver Fund and others — amount to around €2.2 billion. That means approximately €4.4 billion remained available to the government.
Just for comparison, when I became Finance Minister in 2021, I inherited a treasury with around €4 billion in it, not €6.8 billion.

• Prime Minister Radev: There Is No Money Left in the Treasury,; We Will Work to Increase Revenue Collection and Curb Spending