2024-10-05 12:32:07
The caretaker finance minister called on politicians and the media not to abuse information before the election, and for the cabinet to get a mandate under the Recovery Plan so that we don’t lose billions
None of the options for balancing income and expenditure discuss raising taxes and social security
The growth of expenses is ahead of that of revenues, there are many possible combinations, but we will firmly present a budget with a deficit of 3%, Petkova also said
Next year’s budget, as well as a 4-year fiscal-structural plan, which every EU country is already obliged to present, will be prepared after consultations with political forces, unions and employers.
This was announced by the Acting Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova to journalists. She urged politicians and the media not to use information on the two documents for pre-election purposes and not to make interpretations and speculations with it.
She also called for a faster mandate from the parliament to finish the negotiations on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, so that we do not lose the second payment because it is about billions.
“We have prepared revenue and expenditure measures that we will discuss with political parties, with employers and unions, but we will categorically present a budget with a 3% deficit of GDP, as stated in the Law on Public Finances,” emphasized Petkova.
She also explained the reasons for these requests. “The official cabinet should not determine long-term, four-year plans for reforms and investments,” Petkova believes. enter the 4-year plan”.
Petkova illustrated her words with the fact that last week the cabinet did not receive a mandate for negotiations on the PVU. In addition, the CSNS was asked to increase spending by 2.5% of GDP, which also necessitated discussion with the political parties. And all the decisions of the parliament from the last 3 years have an impact on both revenues and expenses.
The acting finance minister presented the results of a special analysis of revenue and expenditure to identify some trends.
A comparison of revenues showed that they grew by BGN 5-6 billion over the three-year period despite reduced rates and services. Non-tax revenues declined in 2024, mainly because last year an interim dividend of BGN 800 million was paid by BEH, but this year the decision of the National Assembly was contested in court. The SC issued a decision to pay the dividend, which is expected by the end of the year. In aid and donations, where the income from European programs and PVU comes in, increases alternate with decreases, Petkova said. The first payment under the PVA was in 2022 and is BGN 2.677 billion, however, the second in the amount of BGN 1.277 billion has not been received and is in question.
There is also an increase in expenses – mainly for personnel, for social and health payments, incl. pensions and those for the maintenance of officials. Thus, from BGN 14.6 billion in 2022, they have increased to BGN 18 billion, and next year they will reach BGN 34 billion. “The obvious conclusion is that expenses are growing faster than revenues,” said Petkova. The expectations of the experts from the Ministry of Finance for next year, this trend will further strengthen due to legislative changes for more expenses for personnel and social policies.
Given these trends, forecasts are difficult, explained the acting finance minister. Revenues are expected to grow by BGN 6.2 billion, tax revenues by BGN 6.7 billion. Aids are expected to drop by BGN 1.5 billion due to the second payment under the PVA.
“These are not parameters for the budget, please do not draw false conclusions about the stability of public finances. There are different combinations of revenue and expenditure measures, according to policies and priority areas”. She was adamant that none of the combinations involved raising taxes.
The three-year forecast, as a basis for the budget, will also be presented after the consultations with the parties, and after NSI has made corrections to the data, Petkova also announced.