The World Bank has already approved a program supportive of reforms in Bulgaria. The Extended Fund Facility with the IMF will be a fact in September. The Currency Board Arrangement has stabilized the financial sector. We have already a recovered competitive and capital adequacy banking system with 5.2 per cent annual basic interest rate which is determined by the market of the quarterly treasury bills. Over the past ten months inflation was 6.9 per cent.
Exchange is absolutely free both for foreign nationals and locals.
Foreign currency can be acquired without any restrictions at the official exchange rate. By the end of this year Bulgaria will assume obligations under Art. Austerity measures are implemented. The 1997 deficit was 2.47 per cent. For the first time the consolidated government budget had a surplus which around the end of the first quarter of 1998 amounted to 1.5 per cent of the projected Gross Domestic Product.