Dobrin Ivanov from the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AIKB) expressed a predominantly critical opinion about the draft state budget of Bulgaria for 2026.
According to him, the presented document lacks real reforms and a strategic vision for improving the efficiency of public spending. He emphasized that the main approach in preparing the budget is reduced solely to mechanical indexation of revenues and expenditures so as to achieve the target budget deficit of 3%.
Ivanov called this approach “accounting gymnastics“, because according to him, the goal is simply to comply with fiscal restrictions on paper, without this being supported by real structural changes or optimization of public spending. He emphasized that the main problem is not in the revenue side of the budget - that is, in how much money is coming into the state treasury - but in its expenditure side, which continues to grow. And inefficiently.
However, this increase, in his words, is mainly aimed at financing current, inefficient and often unsustainable expenses.
They do not create conditions for increasing productivity, competitiveness or long-term economic growth. Instead of being used for investments in innovation, education, infrastructure or other areas that would generate future benefits, the funds are allocated to maintain existing structures and systems that do not provide tangible returns.
As a specific example of a problem in expenditure policy, Ivanov pointed to the way in which salaries are determined in the public sector. He drew attention to the practice of tying them to the average salary in the country. This, he said, is particularly problematic in the “Security“ sector, where such automatic commitment leads to a constant and disproportionate increase in salaries, without necessarily being accompanied by an improvement in the efficiency or quality of the services provided.
In conclusion, Ivanov stressed that without deep structural reforms and a review of the way the state spends its money, the 2026 budget will remain simply a formal document that preserves the status quo, instead of promoting real economic development and sustainability.