Bulgaria January-July 2018 Budget surplus at 2.02B leva
Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry said on August 31 that the consolidated Budget surplus for the first seven months of 2018 was 2.02 billion leva, or 1.9 per cent of this year’s estimated gross domestic product, matching the ministry’s forecast issued last month.
The figure for January-July was narrowly higher than in the same period of 2017, when Bulgaria recorded a Budget surplus of 1.97 billion leva. For August, the ministry forecast a Budget surplus of 2.47 billion leva at the end of the month.
The state Budget had a surplus of 2.36 billion leva and the EU funds recorded a deficit of 345.5 million leva. Bulgaria’s contribution to the EU budget for the first seven months of 2018 was 654.4 million leva.
Revenue in January-July was 22.55 billion leva, well above than the 20.48 billion leva recorded during the same period of last year. The Finance Ministry said that tax and non-tax revenue was up by 10.6 per cent, while aid amounts were roughly unchanged.
Tax revenues were up by 10.3 per cent compared to the first seven months of last year, at 18.75 billion leva.
Budget spending was 20.53 billion leva in January-July, up from 18.51 billion leva in the same period of 2017. In part, that was due to higher pension and health insurance payments resulting from the pension hike in July 2017, but also increased capital spending using EU funds, the ministry said.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
