MOSCOW: Bulgarian agricultural sector has lost 300 million leva ($167 million at current exchange rates) since Moscow introduced a food embargo against the EU agricultural sector, Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture and Food said.
“Since the beginning of the Russian [food] embargo in August 2014 by January 2016 Bulgarian agricultural sector lost some 300 million leva,” Desislava Taneva said Sunday in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
According to Taneca, the sum consists of the income unreceived because Russia’s market is closed for Bulgarian agricultural products, as well as of the lost revenues because of the fall in prices in the internal market due to oversupply.
The European Union and some other Western countries accused Moscow of fuelling the Ukrainian crisis, and imposed economic sanctions against it.
The Russian authorities have refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive. In response to the Western restrictive measures, in August 2014, Russia announced a one-year food embargo on some products originating in states that imposed sanctions against it. The ban has since been extended for another year.
