Increasing the population's income, fighting unemployment, and improving social security are the highlights of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy's program, said Minister Lidia Shuleva on Wednesday.

"Our first priority will be the fight against unemployment because it has reached a critical level for a second year," explained Shuleva, who is also deputy prime minister. Bulgaria's unemployment figure varies between 16 and 20 per cent, she said.

This amplitude is due to the large number of people working illegally. They do not have national insurance and because of this their pensions will not equate to their working experience.

Shuleva declared that the government would try to minimize such cases of exploitation but this would not be a key point of their unemployment policy. Unlike its predecessors, the Ministry promises to focus on creating constant, rather than temporary employment opportunities.

A step in that direction will be taken on October 1 when a Guarantee Fund will be opened. The aim of the fund will be to credit two main groups of entrepreneurs. These will be people with clear ideas about future business opportunities and established businesses that want to create new jobs.

The World Bank will lend $50 million to the fund so that eligible business people can receive credit. Preliminary research by the MBMD polling agency found that 18 per cent of business people were ready to apply for this financial help. "It shows that there are individuals with serious business ideas in Bulgaria," said Shuleva. Early next year a Social Investment fund will be created.

Another major concern of the Social Ministry will be the increase of salaries and pensions. The augmentation will be gradual and steady in order to avoid inflation. The IMF has hinted that there could be more than a 10 per cent salary increase if the government manages to reduce its expenses and boost revenues. The Ministry also plans to deal with the backlog of unpaid social aid. The figures for this year show that there is 25 million leva of unpaid aid and that by the end of the year it will amount to 36 million leva. Of this, eight million leva will be given to organizations for disabled people.

Children, elderly people, disabled people and ethnic minorities are the state's social priorities, explained deputy social minister Hristina Hristova.

Projects for the protection of children, integration of the Roma minority, home care for senior citizens and close co-operation with the unions of disabled people are on the social ministry's agenda.

"We must work very hard on developing the social dialogue in Bulgaria in order to improve the welfare of the people," concluded Shuleva.