site.btaUPDATED Government, Unions, Employers Meet to Discuss Budget Revision

The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation between the government, employer organizations and trade unions held an extraordinary meeting here on Tuesday to discuss a revision of the national budget.

The budget revision will allow the government to go ahead with the implementation of the anti-crisis measures it has planned for overcoming the shock from the increase of fuel and energy prices, and the growing inflationary pressure on the most vulnerable population groups and businesses.

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said last week that the government hopes to see the budget revision adopted by the end of June.

Revisions have been proposed to the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund, of Public Social Insurance and of the State budget.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Assen Vassilev told journalists after the meeting that as early as Wednesday, the government can discuss and vote the budget revisions in order to move the procedure to the relevant parliamentary committees.

The anti-crisis measures, on which the ruling coalition has reached political consensus, are increasing State support for the business community and a social package. The various tools in the package include increasing the tax relief for children, a zero VAT rate on bread supplies for a year, and raising pensions, effective July 1, 2022.

Social Partners' Opinions: 

The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) said that they support only some of the proposed measures and criticized the government for discontinuing the compensations to businesses for the high electricity prices. According to BIA, the government has not conducted a thorough analysis on how these measures will affect the rising inflation rate.

The Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) did not support the changes to the Public Social Insurance budget, saying that the proposed pension increase disrupts the balance between social security contributions and pension size. 

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) insisted on the implementation of another increase in the minimum wage in 2022, as well as on an increase of incomes of people employed in the public sector. CITUB envisages protests by industries, which the confederation will support.

The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour criticized the changes to the National Health Insurance Fund budget, arguing that they lack policies concerning the incomes of people employed in the healthcare sector. They also said that with these budget revisions, the government does not guarantee more revenue for the National Social Security Institute, while they supported the planned pension increase.