Bulgaria January-April 2023 Budget deficit at 1.1B leva
Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry has recorded a consolidated Budget deficit of 1.1 billion leva in the first four months of the year, or 0.6 per cent of this year’s estimated gross domestic product, below the ministry’s forecast of 1.13 billion leva issued last month.
The figure represented a sharp decline compared to the same period of 2022, when Bulgaria recorded a Budget surplus of 882.5 million leva.
The ministry said that the “continuing trend” of spending rising faster than revenue was the reason for the “worsening budgetary position.” For May, the ministry forecast a Budget deficit of 1.2 billion leva at the end of the month,.
The state Budget had a deficit of one billion leva in January-April and the EU funds deficit was 93.8 million leva. Bulgaria’s contribution to the EU budget for the first four months of 2023 was 584.6 million leva.
Revenue in January-April was 19.84 billion leva, up 11.5 per cent from 17.79 billion leva recorded in the same period of last year. Tax revenues were 16.01 billion leva, an increase of 14.2 per cent, the ministry said.
Budget spending was 20.94 billion leva in the first four months of the year, compared to 16.91 billion leva in the same period of 2022, with the bulk of the increase going to higher pensions and subsidies, in particular the scheme to compensate non-household consumers for high electricity prices, as well as higher salaries in the state administration, the ministry said.
(Photo: Alessandro Paiva/sxc.hu)
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