Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov delivered one of the quotes of the year so far when he put his faith in God to improve the standard of living in Bulgaria. Talking to reporters in Varna this week, he said: "If God turns out to be Bulgarian, we will be living better years from now". *

It would take nothing short of divine intervention to accomplish the scenario he was talking about - Bulgaria catching up with the rest of the European Union. It would take a mere decade for Bulgaria to accomplish that, provided that its economy grew by 15 per cent in that time, while the rest of the EU trudged along at a pedestrian rate of two per cent, according to Dimitrov.

For the record, over the past several years, Bulgaria has averaged around six per cent growth, and not even booming China or resource-rich Russia were even close to the 15 per cent the minister was talking about. Given how unrealistic this scenario looks, could his words perhaps been misconstrued? If only, for Dimitrov is rather generous in how he treats numbers.

Two days earlier, in his address to the German-Bulgarian chamber of industry and commerce, he said that average year-on-year inflation in 2008 "was expected" to be 6.9 per cent. A rather galling statement, considering that it came just hours after official data showed that year-on-year inflation reached a new 10-year high in April at 14.6 per cent. Four months into the year, in order to meet Dimitrov's expectations, year-on-year inflation should average four per cent for the rest of the year, which would again require divine intervention.

I am reminded of one particular humourless joke. A man floating at sea after a shipwreck prays for deliverance. He is approached several times by rescue boats, even a helicopter, but he obstinately refuses to get into one despite the pleas of the rescuers, saying every time that God would save him. In the end, the boats are gone and the man, struggling for breath, berates God for abandoning him. In reply, the skies clear and the voice of God booms down: "I sent several boats to help you out, but you refused every time. I even sent a helicopter, and you still would not accept my help. What more do you want from me?"

Not quite drowned yet, Bulgaria is sinking rapidly in EU's eyes. It is still being given chances to pull itself out, but how long until Brussels loses its patience?

* Dimitrov was paraphrasing the now-famous words of football commentator Nikolai Kolev, who exclaimed "God is Bulgarian!" when Emil Kostadinov's goal in added time against France in Paris gave Bulgaria the win it needed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup at the expense of the hosts. Bulgaria went on to play in the tournament's semi-final.