“Yesterday everything became completely clear. From the presented numbers, it became clear that the expenditure part of the budget is extremely inflated, much more than required by the laws adopted in the past and the previous National Assembly. We have to wait for the new version of the budget, in it some of the inflated expenses can be very easily balanced and then it will be seen that the budget is achievable”. This was stated in the program “Your Day” on NOVA NEWS by the MP from the PP-DB Nikolay Denkov.
He gave an example of capital expenditures. “In 2024, they were implemented at the level of 6 billion leva, out of 10 billion planned, and for 2025, 15 billion leva are included in the budget. This means that you are betting 9 billion more than what was implemented last year. Of these 18 billion, half seem insufficiently justified. Even if we bet more funds than last year, it cannot be 9 billion leva”, said Denkov.
Another example he gave is the increase in salaries.
„Not only those adopted by law, but also other salaries have been increased many times more than what is expected in terms of inflation and budget revenues”, said Denkov.
„What does GERB aim at with these continuous accusations about the hole in the budget? We have our explanation. The entire analysis that Asen Vassilev presented yesterday was based on the implementation and planning of the budget for 2024 and the numbers that were presented by Temenuzhka Petkova and Lyudmila Petkova yesterday in the plenary hall. That's why we say to wait for the budget to be submitted and then we will be able to comment on it accurately”, said Denkov.
„The claim that last year there was a huge hole in the budget, which is being transferred to this year, is not true at all. The whole discussion should be shifted to why someone is trying to scare people”, said Denkov.
According to him, the inflated capital expenditures were an indication that someone through public procurement and known companies may try to steal a huge amount of money.
„Our concern is that someone is trying to inflate capital expenditures for this reason”, said Denkov.
„The second thing that should be monitored is an announcement by „Vazrazhdane” that someone is trying to change the euro to lev exchange rate. This exchange rate is fixed with the currency board. We have a commitment that Bulgaria will enter with exactly this rate. Let's be careful about the attempt to sow panic that something might change. It is important to say clearly that the easiest way to fix the lev to the euro is to adopt the euro," said Denkov.