site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria's 2022 Budget Framework Is Adopted

After 11 hours of debates on Wednesday, Parliament adopted the 2022 budget framework late in the evening. It passed on 133-96 votes and one abstentions. More than 140 proposals for changes were made between the first and the conclusive vote.

The framework was supported by the ruling majority including Continue the Change, There Is Such a People, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Democratic Bulgaria. GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and Vazrazhdane voted against it.

The budget framework includes revenues of 57.2 billion leva and expenditure of over 63.1 billion leva. The deficit is set at 4.1 per cent of GDP. The tax revenues are over 31.6 billion leva. The government’s expectations are for an unemployment of 5 per cent and inflation of 5.6 per cent.

The social spending is over 20 billion leva and the healthcare spending 8.3 billion leva. The taxes for corporations and individuals remain unchanged.

The budget framework has 20 million leva provided for increasing wages in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences on condition that it meets the standards for research and innovation. The budget of the judiciary was reduced by as much. There is also money for increasing faculty pay in state universities.

A total of 80 million will be spent for repair and construction of crèches, kindergartens and schools; 35 million for repair and retrofitting of student dormitories; 10 million for school buses; 18 million for broadening the coverage of compulsory pre-school education for 4-year-olds; 90 million for enhancing extra-curricular activities; 15 million leva for construction of new sports facilities in schools and repair of the existing ones.

In healthcare, 352 million leva will be spent for support for workers on the front line against COVID-19 for a period of six months; 76.7 million leva for antigen tests for students; over 19.2 million leva for vaccines; and as much for medicines for COVID patients. Another 36.5 million will go for supporting families with children younger than 14 during an epidemic emergency; 600,000 leva for families who could not find a place for their children in municipal daycare; 110 million leva for workers whose right to work is restricted due to the epidemic measures.

Another 102 million leva will be spent for compensating pensioners after they stop receiving the COVID supplement to their pension (to make sure their pensions don’t drop below the level of December 2021).

Fifty-five million leva are set aside for supporting unprofitable bus services in sparsely populated rural and mountain areas.

Defence spending includes 180 million leva for building a new integrated system and infrastructure for the new jet fighters Bulgaria has bought; 100 million for acquisition of new combat equipment for battalion units in a mechanized brigade; and over 126 million leva for acquisition and modernization of other armament and equipment.

In the area of foreign policy, 1 million leva will be available for supporting the development of the Taraklia State University in Moldova.
Parliament spend another hour fighting over the budget of the judiciary – and ended the sitting due to lack of quorum. Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova came to the plenary for this part of the budget debate.

In the area of culture, the MPs decided in a surprise move to allocate additional 12 million leva. The majority thus backed the proposal of Lyubomir Karimanski (TISP), which was previously rejected by the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee, and conceded to the demands of representatives of the cultural industry, who earlier on Wednesday protested near the National Assembly building. According to the adopted provisions, increased financial support of 50 per cent will be provided to state cultural establishments in the field of cultural and audiovisual heritage, museums and regional galleries, including for salaries.

The legislature continued debating the budget on Thursday.