Economic and financial section > Report of the Commissioner of the League of Nations in Bulgaria > 22nd report

— 2
The draft budget for the financial year 1932-33 contains the following estimates for the receipts
under the three chapters:
Chapter of the budget
Chapter 15 (Excise duty on alcohol, etc.'
Chapter 16 (Excise duty on salt, etc.) .
Chapter 21 (Sale of matches) ....
Total
Estimates for
i932-33
48,000,000
352,000,000
110,000,000
510,000,000
i931‘32
In leva
60,000,000
350,000,000
115,000,000
525,000,000
Difference
— 12,000,000
+ 2,000,000
— 5,000,000
15,000,000
The results for the first ten months of the financial year 1931-32, as compared with the budget
estimates for the coming year, were as follows:
Chapter of the budget
Chapter 15 (Excise duty on alcohol, etc.)
Chapter 16 (Excise duty on salt, etc.) .
Chapter 21 (Sale of matches) ....
Total
Receipts
for the
first ten months
of i931-32
Ten-twelfths
of the budget
estimates
for 1932-33
Difference
In leva
38,501,380
276,100,738
81,254,000
395,856,118
40,000,000
293.333,333
91,666,666
424,999,999
1,498,620
17,232,595
10,412,666
29,143,881
The estimates for the new financial year are thus about 7 per cent higher than the results so
far obtained for the financial year 1931-32. Since it seems unlikely that the yield of the assignee
revenues will increase to any great extent in the coming months, the ca culations of the Ministry
of Finance appear to be optimistic. In any case, it is certain that the margin o 5° Per
over the amount of the service of the loan, provided for m the General Bond , will be amply
covered. For the first ten months of the current year, the transfers necessary for the servic^ol
the loan amounted to 119,000,000 leva in round figures, or about one-third of the sums aval a e.
We must point out once more that no decision has been reached m regard to the adoptio
of the draft law for the modification of the regime applicable to brandy. It is very much to be
hoped in view of the circumstances, that a serious effort will at last be made to improve the yield
of the’tax on alcohol. Although some amendments of detail have recently been made m the law
in force, they are obviously inadequate as yet, and will yield only very small results. If the desired
end is to be achieved, it is essential to effect a radical reform and adopt, m one form or another,
a method of supervising the production of distillers in a way that will effectually stamp out fraud,
which the Ministry of Finance itself confesses to be powerless to prevent.
Payments by refugees, for the repayment of expenditure incurred m settling them, were as
follows:
November
December
January
Previous
payments
Total
payments up
to January 31st,
1932
In leva
Interest . .
Amortisation
Total
93.399
224,211
317,610
61,614
124,985
186,599
7°,5i3
99,671
170,184
2,255,318
13,699,039
15,954,357
2,480,844
14,147,906
16,628,750
The payments for the last three months, 674,393 leva, are practically the same as those for
the previous quarter, which amounted to 695,930 leva. Measures at present under consideration
for enabling the refugees to carry out their repayment contracts will, to some extent, remedy
the insufficiency of the payments, which, as we explained in our previous reports, is due to the
continuance of the crisis, which affects, first and foremost, agricultural enterprises of recent creation,
such as those of the refugees.