Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 19th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Fiscal Policy Author(s) Desislava Stoilova South-West University “Neofit Rilski” Blagoevgrad Bulgaria Title Public expenditures and economic growth in Bulgaria: Twenty years of experience File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Since 1990 the political, economic, and social life in Bulgaria has been significantly influenced by the process of transition from a centralized, socialist type economy toward a market based economy. During the first decade of demolishing centralized state, political mechanisms, economic system, inherited institutions and management practices in Bulgaria were restructured, as well as in all the former socialist countries. Now, twenty years after the beginning of the transition process Bulgaria has made remarkable progress in reforming public sector and public finance. The main goals of this paper are 1) to study the dynamics and composition of public expenditures and 2) to analyse their impact on the economic growth. Analysis is focused on dynamics of the main macro economic and budgetary indicators, based on fact figures for the period 1990–2010 and forecast for 2011. The most important actions, taken by the government to consolidate the crisis are described and evaluated on the base of their effects on the public finance and economic performance. A comparison is made between the loss of Bulgarian economy in the beginning of transition (1991-1993), during the financial crisis in 1996-1997, caused by credit crunch and series of bank bankruptcies, and the current financial and economic crisis. Finally, some conclusions and policy recommendations are outlined, intended to improve crisis management in Bulgaria in the context of specific conditions of the national economy.
