After the annual budget conference ended, the Bulgarian government found itself facing a new challenge—restructuring state-owned enterprises!
During the war, this state-owned enterprise system had not only saved the government enormous expenditures, but also conserved vast amounts of resources.
Everything was produced according to plan: produce however much was needed. There was virtually no waste, and during wartime, this was undoubtedly a highly scientific management method.
But the aftereffects had now emerged. Enterprises that had been shut down for two and a half years had lost their vitality. Everyone had grown accustomed to producing according to plans and had fallen out of step with the market.
The clearest sign was that, in the few months since the war ended, dozens of state-owned enterprises had fallen into losses due to blind production and their failure to grasp the direction of the market.
And it was not just state-owned enterprises. Private enterprises had run into similar situations as well; even the capitalists had played themselves into collapse. It was simply that the problems of state-owned enterprises were more severe!
Everyone knew there was something wrong with the way Bulgaria's state-owned enterprises operated, but no one knew how to reform them. Ferdinand was no exception. Even in later generations, this would remain a major problem!
As for precisely how to reform them, every enterprise was in a different situation. Nor did every enterprise necessarily need reform. At the very least, the treasury still had to keep bailing out military-industrial enterprises. If they were truly cut loose, and the people below carried out a production shift, Ferdinand should prepare to weep!
There were precedents for this. It happened often in capitalist countries: once a war ended and nobody wanted weapons anymore, capitalists would simply send the workers home and switch to producing civilian goods.