The state budget reports a surplus of 500 million leva for January 2025, despite initial forecasts for a deficit. The positive result comes after unplanned payments under military agreements with Denmark.
This is what Mediapool.bg writes.
Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova initially forecast a deficit of 407 million leva for the first month of the year. The discrepancy between the forecast and reality is due to two main reasons.
The first is the receipt of 348 million leva from Denmark under military agreements that were not planned for January. "These funds were not requested in December and in practice they represent an improvement in the budget balance both at the state budget level and at the consolidated fiscal program level", explained Minister Petkova.
Military Minister Atanas Zapryanov specified that the funds are earmarked for the Ministry of Defense. According to a decision of the National Assembly, they will be used for modernization and material support of the military department.
The second reason for the discrepancy is a technical error in the presentation of the forecast data. Minister Petkova presented data for the state budget instead of the consolidated one, which includes all revenues and expenditures of the public authority - the budgets of the judiciary, municipalities, universities, social security, the health fund and others.
For comparison, in January 2024 the budget surplus was 423 million leva. However, experts warn that without the extraordinary military revenue, the current surplus would be significantly lower than last year.