Entering 2026 with the old budget will in no way hinder the process of adopting the euro. This will only gain a little time. This was stated in an interview with NOVA NEWS by economist Dimitar Chobanov.
Regarding today's meeting at the Finance Ministry between the government, unions and employers, Chobanov believes that all three parties have made some progress on the draft budget for next year.
However, I was worried by the reaction of the unions, because it seemed that they decided to take advantage of the situation, since a few days ago their budget demands were a little more modest. The government and the ruling majority said they are willing to make concessions, which should be in the direction of reducing the expenditure part and withdrawing these demands for higher taxes and social security contributions. At the same time, the unions are demanding higher salaries, which in turn means higher expenses, and here the question arises of where this money will come from, the expert commented on the situation.
According to his calculations, the request of the ruling party to withdraw its proposals for increasing the “dividend“ tax by 10% and contributions by 2% will deprive the treasury of secure revenues of approximately 1 billion euros for 2026.
In this context, Chobanov said that employers have proposed increasing the real estate tax, which has not been updated since 2007. If it increases, then the country's budget for next year will receive funds in the amount of 1.1 billion euros.
When asked whether it is possible to eliminate the mechanism for determining the minimum wage, the economist stressed that the unions will categorically oppose any actions and attempts in this direction, although he is of the opinion that economic growth is the one that should determine the growth of wages.