Bulgaria is prepared for difficulties in collecting a new tax on the transit of Russian gas, a measure that has caused concern about the price of supplying this energy throughout Southeast Europe.
The government will adjust next year’s budget plan to exclude $1.3 billion in expected transit tax revenue from the levy, along with increased costs if Russian energy giant Gazprom defaults.
We are leaving out Gazprom’s instalment because it is not 100 percent certain that it will be realized – Finance Minister Asen Vasilev said.
The levy, which has been in effect since mid-October, has drawn condemnation from Serbia and Hungary, which receive gas through a transit pipeline from Bulgaria, fearing that additional costs would be paid by their customers or that Gazprom could cut off the flow of gas entirely.
The European Commission last week expected to start receiving its revenue from the measure, and Prime Minister Nikolaj Denklov said he was not yet aware of any transit revenue.
We easily adopted this tax, but another question is whether it can be collected at all – said Aleksandar Nenkov, a deputy from the parliamentary committee for energy.
