There must be a second extended budget. The first deadline expires at the end of March. So preparing for an extension of the budget by, say, another three months is not a problem. We have a functioning parliament, so the new finance minister simply has to prepare a proposal, as was done last time. There is no problem with that. This was stated on the show "Crossroads" business and financial consultant Lidiya Shuleva, commenting on the question of whether the caretaker cabinet should tackle the state's financial framework and have a second extended budget, or should we wait for a regular government?
According to her, the main issue, however, is more related to the start of the preparation of the real budget for 2026, which must be prepared. "This should in principle be a task of the regular cabinet. But it does not prevent the caretaker government from making preliminary preparations. The new cabinet can subsequently decide whether to use the recommendations made or not," she emphasized.
According to Shuleva, the new cabinet must comply with the latest OECD recommendations, which she says "are absolutely relevant to the current state of the country's budget".
"The people at the protests were outraged by several striking things in the budget - the high costs, the high debts and the lack of a clear policy to be implemented through the financial framework. If we have to focus our attention more specifically, I will say the following: the connection between the economy and budget policy has been broken for years. In principle, a budget should reflect the state's vision for development - both of the economy and social relations", she emphasized.
And she added: "In recent years, the budget has become an expenditure allocation document that satisfies continuous demands for increased spending. Politicians, driven by short-term perspectives, indiscriminately increase various expenses, and the budget should cover them. That is, it does not reflect a real development policy".
According to her, the OECD's recommendations are to stimulate an economy with high added value through budget policy. "This is important because only such a type of economy can lead to higher incomes and, accordingly, to a reduction in poverty. A report has been released according to which Bulgaria is in last place in the EU in terms of the percentage of poor people. However, this cannot be solved only with social benefits. It can be solved with an economy based on innovations", she explained.
According to Shuleva, we need to think about how to use the country's relatively low debt, compared to other European countries, to create new assets. "When debts are taken out, they should be targeted - not to cover salaries in the budget sector, but to create new assets and infrastructure. "This broken connection between the policy that must be implemented through the budget and the budget itself must be restored in the direction of contemporary European trends," she is categorical.