Economist Vasil Karaivanov commented on the topic of Budget 2026 to Nova TV. When asked what the effect would be if this budget is adopted and whether there would be protests, he said: "This protest that is on the street is not the worst. And the protest has already started. It started with the withdrawal of assets, cash, capital that are starting to leave Bulgaria. I'm talking about businesses that are taking their money out of Bulgaria".
According to him, the latest statistics as of September show something that has never happened before in the balance of payments. "If we look - subsidiaries of parent companies from abroad have taken out about 1 billion euros in the form of loans from the Bulgarian company. The Bulgarian subsidiary has provided the parent company with such loans.
Karaivanov also explained what this means. "The reasons are different in each case. But in general - because in recent years there has been an accumulation of very large amounts of money, deposits have been growing, due to the growth of incomes - in general, the money will not stay in Bulgaria. It is starting to leave the country. And this is the silent protest. This is the dangerous protest. First, people who have savings are starting to invest more and more abroad. In recent years, about 5 billion leva per year have been portfolio investments by Bulgarian citizens abroad. That is, 5 billion leva per year - about 2.5 billion euros - are going out," he emphasized.
But at the moment, a new process is also visible - the outflow of money from the subsidiaries to the parent companies. "At least - "if you look at Western Europe, in Germany - the interest rates on short-term government securities there are much higher. They are close to 2%, 1.8-1.9% on an annual basis compared to deposits in Bulgarian banks and compared to other securities of the Bulgarian state," he gave an example.