site.btaIMF Mission Briefed on State of Bulgaria's Energy Sector

Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov briefed the IMF Mission to Bulgaria on the state of the energy sector, his Ministry said on Thursday. The discussion focused on the challenges facing the energy industry, the negative impact of the war in Ukraine and the risks it poses, and the transition to a green economy.

Nikolov said the transition would be implemented, but this must be done at a tolerable cost. 

The Energy Minister talked about the structure and amount of the compensation paid by the government for the high price of electricity. He recalled that over 3 billion leva had been paid so far.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister Iva Petrova, IMF mission head Jean-Francois Dauphin and IMF economists.

A regular IMF staff visit to Bulgaria started on Wednesday. The IMF team is holding consultations and meetings until April 15 for the annual review of the Bulgarian economy, also known as Article IV consultations.