Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Budget 2014 update: a revision of erroneous planning and demagogy

Photo: library

After the fiery and not quite unprejudiced debates, after the adduction of convincing arguments and even more convincing rebuttals, after doses of populism and outbursts of professionalism that went to their head, and all this with trimmings – earsplitting assurances of solicitude for the welfare of the country and of the Bulgarian nation - the MPs finally approved the corrections to the national budget and to the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund for the year submitted by the new cabinet.

Though it comes with a 4-month delay inherited from the two previous governments, this revision is, as Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov put it little more than a way to officially legitimize the errors, misconceptions and wavering of the previous administration. We are compelled to update the budget, but that is something that has been thrust upon us, it is not the policy we are pursuing, the new finance minister said.

The macroeconomic elements that have now been altered are so crucial as to affect the entire national economy and finances. For example, it is now officially acknowledged that the budget is over EUR 500 million short of financing for the public sector, i.e. national security, the social systems, healthcare, education, local and public administration, legislation etc. This means that the deficit for 2014 will reach the unacceptable by European standards 3.7 percent of the GDP – more than double the percentage set down by the law – and that will mean sanctions. But the shortage of this crucial, planned financing will somehow have to be compensated for because there is no way to stop public spending, most of all for services rendered by the private sector. Adding to this the money that has to be found for the Deposit Insurance Fund which, as the law stipulates, has to restore the savings up to EUR 100,000 to the clients of the Corporate Commercial Bank which went under, the hemorrhaging in public finance assumes gigantic proportions compared to Bulgaria’s modest capacity, leading directly to a rise in public debt with more public borrowing, which is planned to reach more than EUR 2.3 billion.

Most advanced countries in Europe and the world have budget deficits and public borrowing and frequently revise their national budgets. The problem with Bulgaria now is that a large part of the public spending is sunk into unreformed administrations like the Interior Ministry, public healthcare, university education, the judiciary – a problematic sector that has been the target of severe criticism inside the country as well as from Brussels. In these sectors money is spent with no transparency and highly inefficiently. Do not put off the politically hard reforms any longer, see them through, European Commission Vice President in charge of Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva appealed a few days ago.

Our government’s policy will be different, Bulgaria’s new Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov asserted and promised that this would become apparent in the coming days when the pubic budget for 2015 will be presented.

English Milena Daynova




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Sevar Ognyanov

Bulgarians in Greece - fewer and increasingly apathetic at the polls

There are 23 polling stations where Bulgarians can vote in Greece today. They are five less than their number in the previous election on June 9 this year. The most sections – five – were opened on the island of Crete . They are located in..

published on 10/27/24 4:27 PM
D-r Tsvetan Tsenkov

A pediatrician is the chairman of the only polling station in Kuwait

Completely calm and normal, according to the law, the election day is taking place in the only open polling station in Kuwait. The Bulgarian community in the Arab country numbers about 300-350 people , mostly highly educated specialists in the fields..

published on 10/27/24 2:50 PM
The polling station in Brisbane

The Bulgarians living "Down Under" give their vote for hope

"The last one to quit wins. If we believe and want democracy in Bulgaria to win..., we must persevere, even though it's discouraging," Izabela Shopova from Brisbane, Australia tells Radio Bulgaria Nearly 6,000 people identified themselves as..

published on 10/27/24 2:05 PM