4 Bulgaria Ministers Set to Monitor State Tobacco Monopoly

Source from:  Novinite.com 12/31/2009

A supervisory council of 4 Ministers will monitor the Bulgartabac Holding, the Bulgaria Agriculture Ministry confirmed late Tuesday. Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov will be the members of the Council. It was also announced that Bulgartabac will have to report all its decisions to a control organ. The board of directors of Bulgartabac has been told that it must submit a report to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the Board of Control by January 5 2010 regarding measures for improving the operation of the holding. The report should present the vision of the company for privatization and its future, and how to improve the tobacco sector in Bulgaria. Traikov was quoted as saying that by the middle of 2010 Bulgartabac will be fully privatized and that he expected cigarette smuggling to increase when excise duties are increased in the New Year. On December 18 Bulgaria's Privatization Agency announced an open tender for selecting a consultant for the privatization of Bulgartabac. Enditem