As an anniversary usually brings up both a tally of what was done in the past, and wishes for the future, I will try to have some measure of both in my congratulatory address to you. Practicing our profession involves our capability to serve society and help the Bulgarian economy. Because, as we are all very well aware, banks have high responsibilities in a market economy – the ongoing technological innovation, developing and offering new products and services, as well as the predictability and stability of banks are a mandatory prerequisite for economic prosperity. From my first day as a BNB Governor to this very day, I have never stopped reiterating and instilling the idea that this responsibility requires the individual efforts of each one of us to be governed by a long-term goal – let’s call it a sense of mission – which goes beyond the specific financial or market considerations of the current day. It is exactly a jubilee like today’s that reminds us of the historic horizons behind the daily statistics, balance sheets or income statements, which ultimately mark the road of new and democratic Bulgaria. Speaking of history, exactly the current crisis stirs the need to examine the past. It is often said about this crisis that it has been the biggest one globally in the recent decades.
Please note that these numbers do not even take into account the contribution by the central bank. Therefore, all that is good for the banking system and allows it to perform its traditional functions, is also good for the Bulgarian economy. Our country can ill afford to do without the banks’ considerable positive contribution to economic growth – which will be the effect, unfortunately, if the policymakers succumbed to certain populist sentiments that have been promoted recently by some figures who would use every occasion to come onto the media stage. There is no reason for the banks in Bulgaria to be additionally burdened by ill-considered administrative regulations and the related costs. Quite the contrary, the weight of such additional burden would turn back as a boomerang against the interests of our society and the Bulgarian economy in general. The nihilistic attitudes to our own achievements in the past hold back enterprise and the ability to plan for the future. That slows down the economy. Simply not knowing one’s own economic history, however, could lead to making decisions with very adverse implications. Therefore, the best we could wish ourselves for the future with regard to the sector and the economy as a whole is that in the future the public interference in the banking area in Bulgaria continues mainly within the confines of prudential and conservative regulations and supervisory practices.