April 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Sofia municipality has prepared a set of measures in support of the operations of local small and medium-sized enterprises most affected by the restrictions imposed over the spread of the coronavirus disease, Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova said.
The measures include a tax support package, administrative services package, revision of all municipal financial instruments in order to back more representatives of liberal professions, as well as measures for support of the sectors of the Sofia economy worst hit by the coronavirus crisis, Fandakova said in a statement on Thursday.
"I am certain that the state of emergency we are in requires expert analyses and political consensus on effective and good solutions for the citizens and the economy of Sofia," the mayor said.
Earlier this week, Bulgaria's government said it will propose to parliament to extend the countrywide state of emergency declared on March 13 by a month, until May 13.
The municipality has started preparing a proposal for revision of Sofia's budget for 2020 by cutting expenditures on some activities and planned investments, Fandakova said.
"The goal is to find the balance so that we do not suspend work, accommodate new expenses resulting from the crisis and continue developing the city," she noted.
According to the mayor, the imposed restrictions have severely reduced the municipality's planned revenues, affecting some activities of strategic importance for the municipality, such as transport, waste management, healthcare, and social works.
Collected municipal taxes are 19 million levs ($10.5 million/9.7 million euro) short of plan only for the month of March, yqar-on-year, with the drop most significant in waste management tax - some 14 million levs.
Sofia public transport has lost 6 million levs from unearned revenue in March due to a drop in sales of travel tickets and cards and the suspension of car parking fees during the state of emergency.
As of Friday, there are 477 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bulgaria, including 12 deaths related to the disease as well as 30 recoveries. Most of the registered cases to date were detected in Sofia.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)