" "One of the first decisions that must be made by the National Assembly will be a new debt limit in order to ensure payments for pensions, salaries, and social benefits," stated Galab Donev from "Progressive Bulgaria" during consultations with President Iliana Yotova.
"I will not go into depth regarding the financial state of the public finances and the state budget, as I am not familiar with the official reports prepared by the Ministry of Finance. However, I would like to mention the alarming budget deficit, which has already reached 1.4% of the gross domestic product as of April." This increase in the budget deficit is mainly due to several categories of expenses, but above all these are personnel expenses, pension expenses, social security payments, to some extent capital expenses, which speaks to the fact that the structure of the spending part of the state budget is not well organized. This, of course, will lead to a number of negatives in the future, as these are expenses that are not one-time, but long-term and repeat over the years, of course with increase. So one of the main tasks will be to restructure the spending part of the budget," said Donev. He also says that the absorption of European funds is going slowly and with delays, both through European programs and funds, as well as through the NSRF. " "There, the delay - you know - is with the expiration of deadlines for EU funding and, of course, if we have not met the indicators and criteria that are monitored for reforms that must be made in the respective legislation that must be adopted, we will lose part of the payments for recovery and sustainability. So the main focus in order to save these payments to a certain extent will be directed towards the main work in the National Assembly and the government - for what can be negotiated, what can be saved from these European funds, which are primarily aimed at rebuilding the economy after the COVID years." But with us, we have adopted a slightly different approach - first reforms, then investments, which could be a mistake in the government's approach to utilizing these funds, because a large part of the EU member states preferred to invest first, make the investments and then proceed with reforms, which is usual and justified in order to utilize these funds for economic recovery more quickly."
"I won't go into depth to make a complete and detailed analysis of the country's financial situation. I will just say this - that it is truly not good. Some say that the state's financial situation is catastrophic. Perhaps one of the first decisions that needs to be made by the National Assembly is a new debt limit, in order for the state to ensure payments for pensions, salaries, and social expenses that occur monthly, so that we can provide these payments until the end of the year in June".
34281 | 5 May 2026 | 11:14
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