Government proposes 6.4% increase in minimum wage to EUR 660

The government is proposing a minimum monthly wage of EUR 660 from January 1, 2027. The draft decree of the Council of Ministers has been published on the Public Consultation Portal, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported.

The proposed amount is EUR 12.80 below the maximum possible minimum wage of EUR 672.80, previously announced by Minister of Labour and Social Policy Natalia Efremova.

If approved, the minimum wage will increase by EUR 39.80, or 6.4%, from EUR 620.20 in 2026. The minimum hourly wage will be EUR 3.98. The public consultation period will last two weeks, until October 28.

• Public-sector salaries to rise by 5% next year

Prime Minister Rumen Radev has already announced that the government will propose a 5% pay rise for public-sector employees, a 7.5% increase in teachers’ pay and an 8% increase in pensions in the 2027 budget. Food vouchers are expected to double, from EUR 100 to EUR 200, while the main tax rates will remain unchanged.

“The final decision on the minimum wage will be taken within the next two weeks, when all the budget parameters will be agreed. My ambition is to get as close as possible to the upper limit of €672,” Social Minister Natalia Efremova said in Svishtov.

She added that the monthly allowance for a child with the highest degree of disability would rise by more than €100, family allowances for children by 16–19%, one-off childbirth grants by more than 56%, and the benefit paid during the second year of maternity leave by around 13%.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov, Diana Tsankova

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov