Crisis expert

Why is the rector of the Rash appointed former Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria

The rector of the Russian Economic School (RASH) was appointed a famous Bulgarian economist, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria Simeon Dyankov. Why exactly he is a look from Sofia

Simeon Dyankov at the World Economic Forum in China

In Bulgaria, a joke appeared with a collective character that has been popular since the USSR and social camps some time ago: “They ask Armenian radio:“ What is the difference between recession and depression? And when will Bulgaria get out of the crisis? ” Answer: “A recession is when your neighbor loses work. Depression is when you yourself have already become unemployed. The end of the crisis is when the Minister of Finance Simeon Dyankov will become unemployed. ”

The name of Dyankov is firmly connected in the minds of the Bulgarian with overcoming the crisis. Meanwhile, it is precisely about the threat of a new crisis that they most often now speak in banking circles in Russia ...

Simeon Dyankov, born on July 13, 1970 in Sofia, is included in the top list 100 of the most cited economists in the world. He has a doctoral degree in the field of international trade and finance of the University of Michigan (USA). The wife of Dyankov is also an economist - an expert on the problems of the currency crisis, she was invited as an adviser to the economic block of the US President Barack Obama.

Since 1995, Dyankov worked as the chief economist in finance in the World Bank. One of the last reports in the development of which he participated is devoted to counteracting the growth of the economic crisis and the anti -crisis steps of the state. In 2009, the then Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov visited the headquarters of the World Bank and immediately after meeting with Dyankov invited him to work in the government. However, other sources associate the rapid career of Dyankov with his friendly relations with the Bulgarian oligarch Ivo Prokopyev.

In September 2012, Dyankov provoked a scandal in Russian-Bulgarian relations, threatening the Russian shareholders of Belene nuclear power plant “Failure Judicial Claims”: “We are not afraid of Russians, whoever is-small energy companies or giants.” However, again, some sources connect the scandal with the quarrel of Dyankov with the Minister of Energy of Bulgaria Triycho Trikov. Then they made peace-and the scandal quickly came to naught.

Having left the government service, Dyankov moved to work at Harvard University (USA) at Harvard Kennedy School. He talks about his work in the government like this: “If I had not held levers of financial policy in my hands, 80 % of the Bulgarians would be much poorer today.”

And although official European statistics to this day defines Bulgaria as the poorest country in the EU, Dyankov’s merits cannot be denied: when the deputy prime minister, he achieved financial stability, low budget deficiency (below 3%, as provided for in the Maastrician agreements) and the state debt level (16.3%). The ex-Bulgarian Minister of Finance is respected in the EU precisely because of his tough tax-budget policy. Until now, in the Bulgarian bureaucratic circles they recall: whoever appeared on the threshold of his office, Dyankov met him with the phrase: “There is no money” - and only after that he delved into the essence of the issue. “He (Dyankov) had no support from anyone except me. Before meeting with him, his ministers came to me at first, ”Ex -Prime Minister Boyko Borisov says about his former comrade -in -arms.

Once Dyankov decided to clearly demonstrate the Bulgarians what the crisis looks like. He showed reporters a box with small sizes of a vegetarian pizza, which illustrated the “crisis budget” of the state. After that, a hit called “Vegetarian Pizza Dyankov” appeared in the Bulgarian pizzeria menu - a tonymous, with a minimum number of ingredients.

He resigned in early 2013. The official reason is overdue payments to grain producers. Unofficial-mass protests of the Bulgarians in February-March due to a sharp increase in housing and communal services, as a result of which the population had to even tighten the belts.

“Herr Flik”-such a nickname was waiting for Dyankov media due to amazing physical resemblance to actor David Johnson, who played the Nazi detective in the scandalous comedy series “BB-Bi” “Allo-Allo” about French resistance: no matter what Flik took on, everything turned out sideways. However, unlike the negligent hero of the series, Dyankov, no matter what was taken, always clearly followed a strict plan. And at the same time he always knew how to take responsibility.

Photo: Qilai Shen/World Economic Forum

Read more about the appointment of Simeon Dyankov in the column of Boris Grozovsky “Doing Business Rash”