Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Economist Mihail Krastev: The budget deficit exceeds 3 billion BGN, the situation continues to worsen

Mihail Krastev
Photo: Yuliana Kornazheva

''The data is alarming because it does not reflect the real picture of the deficit in the treasury. In the spring of 2024, the Bulgarian National Bank made a contribution to the budget, that it was not obliged to make and which cannot be expected to happen annually. If we add these over 600 million BGN, the deficit exceeds 2 billion BGN. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, over 1 billion BGN of the available budget is money for municipalities. Effectively, the budget deficit exceeds 3 billion BGN (EUR 1.5 billion) and the situation continues to worsen'', economist Mihail Krastev said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio. "However, this is not the prerogative of politicians in the political crisis we are in – they do not talk about finance, economics, or social policies, but only about their internal party interests'', said Mihail Krastev.

According to the economist, the crisis in public finances can be solved either by generating new debt or by increasing the tax burden on businesses and households, "which is happening gradually anyway, even though politicians claim that there is no such thing". He added that this is happening through the increase of the maximum monthly insurable income and the minimum wage.

''We are close to the economic nonsense of having the minimum wage approach or even equal the average wage in some parts of the country", Mihail Krastev further stated, predicting that this narrowing gap will lead to cataclysms.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

If we ignore what happened outside the National Theatre, it will become the norm, writers warn

The scriptwriters, authors and playwrights of the Bulgarian Association of Film, Television and Radio Screenwriters have condemned the aggression against spectators, actors, authors and staff of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. In an open letter, they..

published on 11/9/24 4:45 PM
Илияна Йотова

Vice President Iliana Iotova: If President Radev had appointed the caretaker cabinets, the situation would be different

It is obvious that there is something wrong with the way the elections were held , Vice President Iliana Iotova told BNT. A few days ago, she described the newly elected 51st National Assembly as "illegitimate" because of the many signals of violations..

published on 11/9/24 12:23 PM
Atanas Ilkov

Reports of election violations continue a week after polls, interior minister says

The Ministry of the Interior is working on a detailed report on the early parliamentary elections held on 27 October this year. It will include the latest data from the Ministry, the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the Prosecutor's Office,..

published on 11/9/24 10:46 AM