We have all united around the assessment that these are actually the budgets of reality – what the state can afford at this stage in terms of revenues and expenses. With these words at a briefing in the Council of Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Galab Donev summarized the talks between representatives of the government, unions and business on the draft budgets of the NHIF, the Public Health Insurance Fund and the state for 2026, BTA reports.
Earlier today, a meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) was held.
The social partners in principle support the draft Law on the Budget of the NHIF, with the exception of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AIKB). They also did not reach full agreement on the draft Law on the Budget of the Public Health Insurance Fund. There is also no unanimous position on the draft State Budget Act for the current year, informed Galab Donev.
The draft budget of the State Insurance Institute reflects the policy of assuming part of the social security contribution of civil servants, said the manager of the National Social Security Institute (NSI) Vessela Karaivanova.
AIKB refrains from supporting all three draft budgets.
The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIB) and the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) supported the projects with a number of conditions. According to Dobri Mitrev from the BIA, in the short period of work of the current government, in-depth structural reforms cannot be expected. According to him, however, certain legislative steps and restrictions on the rate of increase in budget expenditures are envisaged. As a plus, he also pointed out that preserving the tax and social security model is one of the main advantages of the project. Mitrev, however, said that employers are concerned about the growing deficit.
The president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions and Employers, Plamen Dimitrov, said that the draft budget is supported by the union under conditions. According to him, they will expect more detailed estimates from the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions and Employers.