Inflation in Bulgaria has increased in July
According to the notice released by NSI (Bulgaria National Istatistics Institite), the rate of inflation in Bulgaria has reached to 0.9% in July, with this data on hand the total inflation in the first half becomes -0.5%. NSI states that the inflation rate recorded in July is fairly high compared with the last four years' inflation rate of July due to the increase of 5.5% in service sector. In order to achieve financial stability, BNB (Bulgarian Central Bank) conducts a firm auditing on credit policy. Upon the decision taken in the meeting of BNB Administration Committee, due dates of the credits will be shortened so that the “alarming” credits that constitute 1% portfolio of the banks, will be eliminated. Meanwhile, the revenue supplied from Bulgarian Customs Agency in July is fairly high. According to the statistics released by the Agency, in July the revenue obtained by the Customs Agency has contributed Lev 280 million (Bulgarian currency) (€140 million) to the national budget. Officials state that this amount is the highest proceeds recorded in recent years and the total revenue obtained in H1 of 2003 is 1.7 billion Lev(€850 million). The officials also state that the amount of revenue obtained by the Customs Agency constitutes 28% of the total budget revenue, which signals that the contribution of the Customs Agengy to the national budget is quite high.