Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Parliament adopts the 2023 budget at first reading

Photo: БГНЕС

Bulgaria's Parliament approved the 2023 state budget in the first reading with 156 votes in favor. The support came from GERB-SDS, PP-DB and DPS deputies. The "BSP for Bulgaria" and the parties "Wazrazhdane" and "There is Such a People" (ITN) voted against.
"This budget is not revolutionary, it continues the policies and best practices started in the last years. We have managed to maintain a 3 percent deficit for the third year in a row and to adjust spending to existing resources without affecting Bulgarian citizens," Finance Minister Assen Vasilev said.
Despite its support, GERB-SDS said that the budget does not solve a single problem and does not envisage serious reform.
According to BSP Chair Kornelia Ninova, the government's measures hinder the work of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The state plan envisages 69.5 billion leva (35.53 billion euros) in revenue. They are to come from better tax and fee collection by the tax and customs authorities, a 100 percent dividend from state-owned enterprises and economic growth of 1.8 percent. 
Expenditures are to amount to 74 billion leva, while social benefits are to be maintained - an increase in pensions according to the Swiss rule, a minimum wage of 780 leva and a poverty line of 504 leva are planned.



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

Georgi Parvanov

There is a wave of returning Bulgarian experts, but the number of foreign workers is also growing

There is a huge increase in the import of workers from third countries. We are heading towards 50,000 by the end of the year. The shortage of personnel is constant. This is what Georgi Parvanov - an expert in Human Resources, a..

published on 9/18/25 11:01 AM

Winners of the Bulgarian National Radio essay contest will be awarded at a ceremony in Taraclia

At the end of February this year, the Bulgarian National Radio announced an essay contest aimed at schoolchildren and students from the Bulgarian diaspora in Ukraine and Moldova descending from the historical and geographical region of Bessarabia...

published on 9/18/25 10:32 AM

Policeman passes away while guarding protest blockade of the parliament

Before the fifth vote of no confidence against the government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, opposition MPs from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" blocked the entrance to the courtyard of the parliament. They said..

published on 9/18/25 10:19 AM