PM Borissov: Let us make 2021 a year of recovery and a new beginning

“We are sending off a year of trials – unparalleled in impact and scale… Yet, I have always said that Bulgarians demonstrate their strength best in the worst of times. That was true of 2020, which showed us what the word “heroes” truly means,” wrote Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in a New Year address on Facebook. 
He noted that the pandemic has taught us to live guided by the idea of caring for others, that discipline and responsibility can be measured in human lives. 
The Bulgarian prime minister expressed the hope that 2021 will be a year of recovery and a new beginning, of a return to normal life.

Amidst pandemic Bulgaria registers good fiscal policy

According to preliminary Ministry of Finance data, the budget deficitat the end of December amounted to 1.8 billion euro, or 3% of the GDP which is a better result than the 4.4% set down in the updated version of the budget for 2020. 
In 2020 the direct fiscal stimuli from the national budget, including the social and economic measures aimed at tackling the impact of the pandemic, as well as the funding for front line units, amounted to around 1.4 billion euro. These sums include around 400 million euro redirected from European funds. The fiscal reserve is in excess of 6 billion euro. These results show that a good fiscal policy has been maintained, the Ministry of Finance points out.

Reporting by Marta Mladenova, Horizont channel

Bulgaria reports 1,046 new Covid-19 cases

1,046 is the number of new Covid-19 cases registered in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours, or 18.23% of the 5,739 tests performed.
The highest number of new infections is in Sofia - 155, followed by Plovdiv - 107, and Varna– 100, indicate data of the Single Coronavirus Information Portal. 
61 people have died over the past 24 hours, and 1,192 have recovered from coronavirus.
4,756 patients with coronavirus are being treated in hospital, 464 of whom are in intensive care. The number of active cases currently stands at 75,163.
At yesterday’s weekly briefing on the spread of Covid-19 in the country, Health Minister Kostadin Angelov stated that Bulgaria was 24^th among the EU countries in coronavirus incidence, and 3rd in the number of deaths over the past 14 days.

Patriarch Neophyte: We hope that the adversity has made us wiser

“We hope and we pray that the past year, 2020, a year of the unparalleled adversity, of the pandemic of a virus new and unknown to the human race, has made us wiser,” Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte points out in an address to the Bulgarian nation. He expressed the hope that out of this adversity people will emerge even more motivated to fight for the gift of life.

Kukeri banish evil forces in Razlog, while observing the anti-epidemic measures

As is the tradition, this morning kukeri in the town of Razgrad came out to banish the forces of evil on the first day of the new year, BGNES reports.
People in Razlog woke up to the beating of drums and the ringing of bells this misty morning. The local kukeri festival was cancelled this year, but the kukeri till decided to mark the tradition, at the same time observing the anti-coronavirus measures. They passed through the streets of the town while the locals applauded them from their balconies and windows. The police were also there to make sure there were no breaches of the restrictions.
Covid-19 was the reason why traditional kukeri and masquerade games, organized for dozens of years, were, for the first time cancelled in Petrich, Razlog, Bansko, Simitli and Blagoevgrad.

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova

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