site.btaSofia Municipal Council Adopts Capital’s 2022 Budget

The Sofia Municipal Council (SMC) adopted the budget of the Sofia Municipality for 2022 at an extraordinary online meeting on Thursday with 33 votes in favour and 27 against. The BSP for Bulgaria and Democratic Bulgaria groups, as well as independent municipal councilors Metodi Lalov and Boris Bonev, voted against the budget.

During the discussion, Stefan Markov, Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of the SMC, reminded his colleagues that the draft budget envisages expenditures amounting to 2,100,525,462 leva. Compared to the initial budget for 2021, this represents an increase of 11 per cent (208 million). On the positive side, 85 million leva of the increased expenditures are meant for investment. Expenditure growth is financed mainly by loans, state subsidies and local taxes, Markov said.

Capital expenditures increased by 16 per cent compared to the plan for 2021, or by 82.6 million leva. The total investment budget amounts to 594 million leva. (28 per cent of the budget), of which only 15 million are a targeted capital subsidy from the state budget, according to Markov. He pointed out that half of the ambitious capital programme is expected to be provided by the European operational programmes for projects run by the municipality. Investment loans are increased by almost 100 million leva that will finance the construction of the third subway line and the city’s inner ring roads.