The first vote on the 2025 budget has passed, and MPs have 5 days to make proposals for changes before the final vote. However, the set revenues and expenditures must remain unchanged. The deadline for proposals expires next Wednesday, with some of the parties already making their requests for changes.
Economist Rumen Galabinov believes that not all 7 billion leva of the new debt, intended for the capitalization of 10 state-owned companies, should go to them. "Instead, 2 billion leva can be used for the military budget. In state-owned companies, we should rather think about concessions and privatization, so that large private investors can participate in recapitalization," he explained.
According to him, it is very debatable whether this decision will lead to an increase in VAT revenues.
In turn, economist Nikola Yankov suggested that all 7 billion should come from private capital. "Currently, the ruling coalition is trying to shift expenses. The recapitalization of state-owned companies is not a budget expense, but an accounting trick. If you add the seven billion to the budget deficit, it will turn out to be 6%, not 3%. We need to move to a reformist budget policy, there should not be 100% state-controlled companies in Bulgaria, and they should be listed on the stock exchange. Or large international investors should be attracted. The capitalization of the BDB will actually be a budget outside the budget. This is socialism and corruption," Yankov commented.
According to him, the goal is for the BDB to provide loans to "stuck" companies that owe taxes to the state. "That is, state money is provided, which is returned in the form of levies. If these companies could find money, they would do so. Apparently, no commercial bank wants to lend them. And if the BDB finances them, they will not see their money back," the economist emphasized.