No overperformance is expected on the revenue side of the state budget, and austerity is the only way to finance extra spending until the year's end, Finance Minister Rossitsa Velkova told journalists on Monday.
She said: "According to some sources, the state budget has considerable potential to finance additional expenditures such as energy allowances and income boosts, but this is not true. Those comments came after higher-than-planned budget revenues were registered around the middle of the year while capital expenses were low. That was a temporary surplus, and as far as capital expenses are concerned, they were coming mainly from EU funds."
Velkova added that there will still be some economizing on capital expenses, but not much.
She predicted that Bulgaria's GDP will grow by 2.9% in 2022 and 2.2% in 2023. In 2022, GDP growth is expected to slow in the third quarter of the year and particularly in the fourth quarter. Inflation will decelerate as consumption drops not only in Bulgaria but also EU-wide, and average annual inflation is expected to stand at 12.6% in 2022 and 5.6% in 2023.
The government has assumed BGN 1.8 billion in new debt while the limit approved by Parliament is BGN 10.3 billion. "We will go out on international capital markets and the domestic capital market in the coming months," the Finance Minister said.
/RY/
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