Bulgaria will need between EUR 25 million and EUR 50 million to provide refugees with assistance, this country’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev said for the BNR. In his words, the government will not reduce capital expenditure to accommodate refugees fleeing the war. Minister Vassilev said that there are buffers in the state budget that will help Bulgaria cover the necessary costs, before the European Commission reimburses this money.

“Certain retailers are raising prices unjustifiably for a day or two and the increase is synchronised with organised media coverage. We will ask the Commission for Protection of Competition to probe the market of cooking oil”, Minister Vassilev said on the occasion of media reports of people waiting for cheap vegetable oil in retail stores. Assen Vassilev has accused the opposition of scaremongering. “ We have information that such actions are being prepared with regard to sugar and flour. This is media hysteria that is organized without any grounds”, said Minister Vassilev.