Bulgaria January-October 2023 Budget deficit at 1.44B leva
Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry has recorded a consolidated Budget deficit of 1.44 billion leva in the first 10 months of the year, the equivalent of 0.8 per cent of the ministry’s gross domestic product forecast for 2023.
The figure represented a significant swing compared to the same period of 2022, when Bulgaria recorded a small Budget surplus of 4.8 million leva. For November, the Finance Ministry projected a lower deficit of one billion leva.
The state Budget had a deficit of 1.27 billion leva in the first 10 months of the year and the EU funds recorded a deficit of 168.9 million leva. Bulgaria’s contribution to the EU budget for January-October 2023 was 1.39 billion leva.
Revenue in January-October was 53.44 billion leva, up 6.4 per cent from last year. Tax revenues were 42 billion leva, an increase of 11.3 per cent, the ministry said.
Budget spending was 54.88 billion leva in the first 10 months of the year, up 9.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2022, with the bulk of the increase going to higher “social and health insurance spending”, as well as increased wages in the public sector and capital spending, the ministry said.
(Photo: Pedro Moura Pinheiro/flickr.com)
Please support independent journalism by clicking on the button below. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com and get access to exclusive subscriber-only content:
