“Ministry of Finance experts are under stress”: 2024 expenditure dues have jumped to 2 billion euros

Bulgaria’s 2025 public budget will have to cover payments of 2 billion euros that were postponed in 2024. These are delayed expenses for which invoices have already been issued or commitments have been made.

The information was provided by Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova during her hearing in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The entire burden from Budget 2024, transferred to 2025, is BGN 4.068 billion. This is the bill that the budget must pay from 2024," Petkova pointed out.

If there are invoices issued but unpaid within the year, the amount should be included in the deficit on an accrual basis for 2024, according to Eurostat rules.

Petkova assured that Budget 2025 will have a deficit of up to 3% of GDP and expenditures of up to 40%.

The mission is extremely difficult, but our priority is Bulgaria's membership in the eurozone," said Petkova.

As Economic.bg wrote some time ago, the delay in payments, including those for capital expenditures, began in the last months of 2024. At that time, various associations signaled that the lack of money for capital expenditures was creating a "critical situation."

Invoiced (i.e. accrued but unpaid) expenses for 2024 are worth BGN 1.8 billion. For certified expenses incurred for which there is no invoice, BGN 1.6 billion has been accrued.

There is information that contractors were told that there were no necessary resources, and it was better not to issue these invoices," Petkova explained.

Additionally, BGN 913 million is due as part of signed agreements to defer expenses paid in recent years, including interest, lawsuits, and compensation.

The Bulgarian state has also committed to covering the deficit in the Electricity System Security Fund for the amount of BGN 444 million.

An important detail to consider is that this is data received from the primary budget spending authorities (ministries and departments) and from the municipalities, which means that it cannot be ruled out that the due amount will be even larger if additional information is received by the end of the month.

For example, during yesterday's meeting of the parliamentary regional committee, it was revealed that, according to rough calculations, the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency (API) needs about 1.8 billion leva (900 million euros) to pay its liabilities generated in 2024. "If API provided data on activities carried out in 2024 that are not certified but will be subject to payment, the overall picture would be much different and even more worrying," warned the finance minister. 

Official data on the deficit on an accrual basis will be available in early or mid-April," Petkova said.

She explained that by February 28, the various public departments will submit data to the Ministry of Finance, from where it will be sent to the National Statistical Institute and subsequently to Eurostat for confirmation.

Stressed experts

The Ministry of Finance has been delaying the preliminary data on the implementation of the consolidated fiscal program as of January 31, 2025, for almost a week now. In recent days, Assen Vassilev, former Finance Minister and current MP from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria", has repeatedly contacted Petkova to inquire about the data in question.

Mediapool published its own data, based on unnamed sources, showing that in January the state budget had a surplus of BGN 500 million, and not a deficit of BGN 407 million, as the finance minister had predicted on January 23.

"Political entities are trying to manipulate and juggle the data, everyone interprets it differently," Petkova said today.

We will present the data when we are 100% sure that it is final and will not lead to any misinformation. The experts at the Ministry of Finance are stressed by all that is happening," Petkova added.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov