Bulgaria January-May 2023 Budget deficit at 1.18B leva
Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry has recorded a consolidated Budget deficit of 1.18 billion leva in the first five months of the year, or 0.6 per cent of this year’s estimated gross domestic product, slightly below the ministry’s forecast of 1.2 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 605.1 million leva.
The ministry said that the deficit was due to the increase in spending being higher than the revenue collection growth through the first five months of the year, but forecast a sizeable swing in June, projecting a surplus of 0.2 billion leva at the end of the month.
The state Budget had a deficit of 1.31 billion leva in January-May, while the EU funds recorded a surplus of 137.7 million leva. Bulgaria’s contribution to the EU budget for the first five months of 2023 was 711.7 million leva.
Revenue in January-May was 24.92 billion leva, up 9.1 per cent compared to the same period of last year. Tax revenues were 19.8 billion leva, an increase of 11.4 per cent year-on-year, the ministry said.
Budget spending was 26.1 billion leva in the first five months of the year, compared to 22.24 billion leva in the same period of 2022, with the bulk of the increase going to higher pensions and salaries in the public sector, as well as increased capital spending, the ministry said.
(Photo: Alessandro Paiva/sxc.hu)
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