Galab Donev: Deficit reduction measures must be long-term

The European Commission will definitely continue with launching the Excessive Deficit Procedure against Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Galab Donev said at a parliamentary meeting. This happens after an analysis of net expenditures for the past year, in which the estimates of the Ministry of Finance and the European Commission partially diverged.

The report is about to be submitted for an opinion to the Economic and Financial Committee. The final step will be a decision by the EU Council whether the country should officially face Excessive Deficit Procedure. If the procedure is triggered, the European Commission will require Bulgaria to take specific measures to limit the deficit, the Deputy Prime Minister also said. One of them is that net expenditures should be reduced by 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product. The minister added that expenditure restrictions and an analysis of the structure of budget expenditures will be required.

"The structure of the expenditure part of our budget is not very good. About 76% are expenses for salaries, social payments and pensions and just about 24% are investment expenses," Galab Donev said. According to him, the government will have to propose long-term measures to limit the budget deficit, which will be combined with the recommendations of the EC.

According to the EC, Sofia did not manipulate the data for the 2025 state budget

Editor: Diana Tsankova