The draft budget for 2025, submitted by the caretaker government, is neither a budget of Petkova's despair or a fake budget, nor is it a budget of invented revenues and made-up figures, but is an attempt by the caretaker government with revenue and consolidation measures, without increasing the rates of basic taxes and social security contributions, without changing policies and legislation, to achieve a deficit within 3% of GDP.
This was stated by the caretaker Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova in her opening remarks during her hearing in the Budget Committee in parliament, “Focus" reported.
“The budget for 2025 reflects the current policies and legislation. The policies in the draft budget are not policies of the caretaker government, but are policies adopted in the last few years, in conditions of political instability, early parliamentary elections and short-term regular and caretaker governments. The budget reflects everything that was done or not done in the last three years with all the consequences arising from this", she stated.
In her words, the caretaker government should not be the initiator of policies that would lead to a reduction in the costs of remuneration, social payments or pensions: “If such is the will of the political parties, the proposals must be adopted in the National Assembly, because these amounts of expenditure were proposed by members of parliament and adopted in the National Assembly”.
The expenditure under the Consolidated Fiscal Program of the budget for 2025 amounts to 98,908,000,000 leva. It has an increase of 17 billion leva compared to the implementation for 2024 and an increase of 20 billion leva compared to last year's plan.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing false in the estimated cost estimate and it was prepared based on current policies and legislation”, she was categorical.
The 2025 budget has an increase of 4.9 billion leva in personnel costs. It is precisely under this item that the largest growth in costs is observed, with the total amount of money for civil servants amounting to 23 billion leva for the next year, the Minister of Finance explained.
“The growth in salaries and pensions is significant. The problem is not in these costs. The problem is in the way they were increased, without being based on sound economic logic. The lack of a comprehensive income policy, the increase in salaries in the middle of the year, without being a financial guarantee, as well as the accepted automatism in the increase in salary funds by tying salaries in individual sectors to the average salary as a percentage of GDP, led to this result. The policy to reduce disparities for 2024 led to greater disparities and greater chaos," said Lyudmila Petkova.
The Minister of Finance stated that our country expects 7.8 billion leva from the Recovery and Resilience Plan. She reminded the MPs that our country has only received the first tranche of European funds.
Capital expenditures under the national budget are planned to be 7.1 billion leva. They include funds for the completion of already started repairs, as well as for the implementation of new projects.
The planned revenues in the budget amount to 92 billion leva, with the growth here being 20 billion leva compared to the implementation of the budget for 2024. Lyudmila Petkova recalled that the country has not received 3.5 billion leva from the State Budget over the last 12 months, which were, however, included in the budget.
“The caretaker government decided not to propose an increase in the rates of basic taxes and mandatory social security contributions in order to guarantee the revenue side of the budget, but is proposing measures to increase collection in the budget. The criticisms of the budget are that these are temporary measures. "Yes, temporary measures, but which is better - to increase the tax and social security burden for taxpayers or for the state to collect the taxes and social security contributions owed," she said.