I hope that with the new budget for 2026 the deficit will be at a controlled level, why not even below 3%. This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by the MP from "Progressive Bulgaria" Stefan Belchev.
He emphasized that there is no room for panic, there is an urgent need for financial discipline.
As part of the measures envisaged in the budget, Belchev emphasized that the authorities will not allow themselves to seize funds in advance from companies that need investment capital for modernization. We are looking for an option for the state to collect its share, but without decapitalizing this business, he added.
According to Stefan Belchev, the PB is discussing a smooth and phased introduction of a personal insurance contribution for administration employees, but this must be done through a legal mechanism - gross, net compensation in the transitional period, in order to prevent a real reduction in the net monthly income of each civil servant.
Taxes will not be raised in Budget 2026 either. "If we manage to lighten up just 5% of the gray sector, this will bring us hundreds of millions of euros in additional revenue to the treasury, without increasing the tax burden. Updating the tax assessments of properties has begun to emerge as a topic. The last update was in 2007, when the values of the housing themselves were many times lower than they are now, Belchev pointed out.
He emphasized that the excessive deficit procedure launched by the EC is a clear signal that the current policy of setting certain expenses on inertia and relying on hidden buffers has most likely already exhausted its limit. This procedure is an EU mechanism for tightening budgetary discipline, and we clearly need it. Years ago, we were already in such a procedure and we successfully came out of it, the MP commented.
Belchev reported that the deficit at the end of May was about 2% of GDP, which shows that the treasury is not fully liquid and has about 6 months to propose a realistic plan to limit expenses to the EC.
According to him, business needs predictability and any further increase in excise duty levels will be minimal, fully compliant with European directives and after a serious dialogue with industry organizations, so as not to cause artificial inflationary pressure on end consumers.