“No exotic measures”: Zhelyazkov cabinet prepares 2025 Budget with 3% deficit plan

The 2025 budget will have a deficit of up to 3% and expenditures of up to 40% of GDP. This was assured at a briefing by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov after a meeting of the Joint Governance Council, quoted by BTA.

It discussed possible revenue and expenditure measures in this year's budget.

We will not propose exotic measures like those offered by the previous government in the withdrawn draft budget for 2025," emphasized Zhelyazkov.

He affirmed that the tax and social security burden will not be changed.

Contrary to GERB-SDS party leader Boyko Borissov's statement a week ago that the VAT for the restaurant industry would be brought back to 9%, Zhelyazkov stated that the current VAT Act would be submitted for approval along with the draft budget in parliament. According to him, the reduced VAT rate was only valid until the end of 2024.

Between the first and second reading, I have committed, as chairman of GERB, that VAT will remain at 9% and we will insist on this," Borissov said a week ago in the corridors of the parliament.

Among the main topics of today's Governing Council meeting was the current state of public finances, as well as payments due from last year for commitments and invoiced expenses. "This topic was important to discuss in view of what the expenditure base for the draft budget and the revenues under the consolidated fiscal program will be," explained Zhelyazkov.

This past weekend Boyko Borissov asked Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova for information about expenditures due from 2024 that have not been paid yet. The request was related to concerns that these hidden expenditures could inflate the deficit on an accrual basis, which is monitored by Brussels when considering eurozone membership applications.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov