We are on the verge of a new global economic crisis because of the war in Iran. In Bulgaria, we urgently need to take care of people's incomes and businesses by adopting a broad anti-crisis package of measures.
We were in a similar crisis situation in 2022 and then we managed to support business, increase incomes and pensions more than inflation, get the country through the crisis and catch up with average European incomes.
Neither Radev nor Borisov can handle this task. We know Borisov's recipe - lean pizza and bleeding businesses. Radev offers us a Hungarian recipe that made Hungarian households poorer than Bulgarian ones and Hungary lagged behind us in purchasing power, which is why he lost the elections. The contract concluded by his caretaker government with BOTAŞ additionally costs Bulgarian taxpayers 500 thousand dollars per day.
WE WILL PROPOSAL A BROAD PACKAGE OF ANTI-CRISIS MEASURES
As soon as the Parliament is formed, the discussion of the 2026 Budget should begin - not the corrupt theft of public funds by Peevski and Borisov, because of which the people took to the squares and overthrew the puppet government of “Zhelyazkov”, but a real anti-crisis budget that will prepare people and businesses for rising prices.
We will propose a package of broad anti-crisis measures to support incomes, assist families, pensioners and businesses, similar to the 2022 package, which was worth over 2 billion leva. Then we implemented a strong package thanks to which salaries and pensions grew more than inflation, and business did not lose its competitiveness.
Based on policies already made and the logic of 2022, we can structure the package as follows:
- Increase in minimum pensions above the poverty threshold. In 2022, pensions were increased twice - an update from July 1 by 20%, instead of the set 6.1%, and from October 1, recalculation according to the Swiss rule with 100% of inflation. Thus, pensions jumped from 300 BGN to 467. Now we again need support for the elderly, so that rising prices do not eat up their income.
- Compensations per liter for 95 gasoline, diesel, methane and propane butane. In 2022, the compensation was 25 cents per liter for all drivers. Such a measure would currently support the most vulnerable people who use cars. The measure has been proven to work, as it applies only to the cheapest fuels and does not cover premium gasoline, which is usually filled by owners of luxury cars. This would not burden the budget, as it is compensated by increased budget revenues from VAT and excise duties due to higher fuel prices.
- Energy compensation for electricity for businesses. In 2022, a ceiling on electricity prices of 200 leva per megawatt-hour was introduced, above which 100% compensation was given to all companies, so from large consumers to neighborhood establishments could receive funds. In The 25th National Assembly will again propose such a measure, which was suspended during the time of the “Zhelyazkov“ cabinet, and thus business found itself without support against high electricity prices.
- Reducing VAT on heating and hot water and natural gas for household consumers from 20 to 9%. This would allow the price of heating for households to remain at acceptable prices and they would not feel the shock of rising prices. Exemption from excise duty on electricity, natural gas and methane would also work in this direction.
- Supporting livestock breeders and fruit and vegetable producers, due to the higher price of fertilizers and feed. In 2022, thanks to this measure, livestock breeders and vegetable producers were saved from bankruptcy, and accordingly their production - meat and milk - did not increase dramatically in price throughout the entire agri-food chain.
- Increasing the VAT registration threshold to ease the burden on small and medium-sized businesses. In 2022, it was raised from 50 thousand to 100 thousand leva. In the new parliament, we will propose to increase it from 51 thousand euros to 85 thousand. euro. This measure would save time and money on complicated accounting for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Supporting families with children. In 2022, as part of the anti-crisis package, we increased the child tax credit from 20 to 600 leva per child. In the new parliament, we will propose to increase the tax credit for families to 600 euros. This measure helped to compensate for the income of young families who work and pay their taxes to the treasury.
Such a package of anti-crisis measures will ensure that Bulgarian consumers and businesses will get through the looming economic crisis more easily. We at PP-DB have the will to pursue a budget policy that returns the money paid by people for taxes and social security contributions back into their pockets, and not into slush funds and opaque public spending. We are convinced that the more transparency and publicity there is for state spending, the less money will be able to be stolen, diverted and leaked to selected companies in backstage deals.
