June 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will provide a subsidy package of 300 million levs ($161.3 million/153.4 million euro) to agricultural producers in the second half of 2022, so as to counter sharp increases in food prices, the agriculture ministry said.
The sum of 168.7 million levs, along with state co-financing, will be paid to the agricultural sector under the provisions of the budget revision draft now before parliament, the ministry quoted agriculture minister Ivan Ivanov as saying in an interview for private broadcaster Nova TV on Saturday.
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"This year we expect to provide farmers with 450 million levs, which is twice as much as the annual subsidies paid to agricultural producers so far," Ivanov said.
In the last few days, agricultural producers received 143.5 million levs as emergency aid under the government's measures for alleviating the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.
Bulgaria's crops sector can expect a good harvest, the agriculture minister noted, cautioning that failure to approve the budget revision could threaten crop production and livestock rearing in the country.
In April, the agriculture ministry said that the government will back the farmers with state aid and direct payments amounting to some 902 million levs in total in 2022.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)