Cigarette sellers in Bulgaria – legal and illegal – were bracing for increased demand for cigarettes as New Year price increases loom.

A report by Bulgarian TV station bTV said that from the beginning of next year, prices of cigarettes would go up by an average of 40 per cent. Smokers were not yet stocking up, sales people said. Following up claims that the increases in excises would stimulate the illicit economy, bTV sent a team with a hidden camera to Sofia’s Zhenski Pazar (Women’s Market) where "literally every step" cigarettes without excise labels were offered to the team.

25 December, Bulgarian news agency Focus said that some foreign cigarette brands were already being sold at higher prices in some Sofia shops. Packets of 20 Marlboro cigarettes were being sold at BGN 4.20 (EUR 2.15), up from BGN 3.90 (EUR 1.99), for example. Some shops had the same brands with different prices. New stocks had been sent marked at higher prices, retailers said. (pi)