Budget 2026 is possible as the most balanced and compromise option, which would balance expenses within a 3% deficit. This was stated by the President of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions Plamen Dimitrov in the “Interview in NOVA News“ after a meeting at the GERB headquarters. According to him, the extreme options for finding additional revenues, such as raising VAT or profit tax, are impossible for citizens and businesses, respectively.
“The most impossible is to raise VAT to 22%, as such words were heard from business representatives. This means raising inflation immediately“, commented Dimitrov. The other extreme, in his words, is raising profit tax, which would be “the most impossible for business“.
As a compromise and “possible” option, he defined the idea of raising social security contributions by 2%, to be borne half by workers and half by employers. Dimitrov also mentioned the possibility of a one-time tax on the banking sector, but stressed that this does not solve the problem for the coming years.
On the topic of taking new loans, which for this year are just over 14 billion leva (about 7 billion euros), Dimitrov said that the money “has no labels“. “We have financed the capital program, which is 6.2 billion euros, with the 7 billion loan that we have taken, and we have not paid salaries and pensions“, he said, adding that the remainder went to refinance old debt.
For 2026, new loans in the amount of 10 billion euros are planned, of which 3 billion are for defense, and 7 billion will cover the deficit and refinance old debts. Dimitrov noted that the largest increase in the budget is for capital expenditures - from 6.2 billion to 7.7 billion euros.