site.btaUPDATED PM Denkov Confident 2024 Budget Bill Will Be Adopted, Not Planning Ministerial Replacements until March

Interviewed by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Sunday, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said he is confident that the 2024 Budget Bill will be adopted and will be realistic. He also told reporters he was not going to replace ministers before March 2024 as agreed with GERB-UDF. Denkov said he would resign if Parliament adopted an unfeasible budget, if the judicial reform did not materialize or if GERB or Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) wanted the government to go.

2024 State Budget Bill

The Finance Ministry published the 2024 State Budget Bill on November 10. The budget proposal for 2024 projects a 3% deficit on a cash basis and a 2.9% deficit on an accrual basis. At BGN 12 billion, the proposed capital expenditure budget for 2024 is up by 50% on this year's, which is a huge increase. Also, BGN 1 billion has been allocated for concrete priority projects of the municipalities, which is unprecedented.

Commenting on the budget deficit in 2023, Denkov said there is no risk of exceeding the EU's limit of 3% of GDP for budget deficits. One of the unknowns is whether the next instalment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan will be released late in 2023 or in the first weeks of 2024. 

The cabinet's stability

Denkov said he was not going to replace ministers before nine months are out as agreed with GERB-UDF. He said this is the minimum term for a programme to develop. "Anyway, the governance programme has an 18-month duration until the end of 2024. We have a government elected with support from GERB-UDF and CC-DB; as long as this government is working, this will be its format. This government will work according to the present rules," Denkov said.

The Denkov government was formed on a rotating basis in June. CC-DB and GERB-UDF agreed that Nikolay Denkov of CC-DB will rotate with Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF. Gabriel is currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

In his interview with BNR, the Prime Minister also commented on Saturday's statement by GERB leader Boyko Borissov that two things can make GERB leave the government - disagreement with CC-DB on the 2024 Budget Bill and corruption. Denkov said he hoped GERB would set to work on the budget and the proposed amendments to the Constitution. As to corruption, he said GERB were yet to give so many answers that corruption allegations were the last thing he would accept from them.

Commenting on relations with GERB-UDF, the Prime Minister said there are elements of a coalition agreement with CC-DB because GERB-UDF participated in the drafting of the governance programme. He stressed that what is missing is a mechanism for important decision making.