site.btaParliament Adopts on First Reading Public Social Insurance Budget Bill

The National Assembly adopted here on Wednesday on the first reading the 2025 Public Social Insurance Budget Bill. Support for the draft budget came from 66 MPs from GERB-UDF, 28 from MRF-New Beginning, 19 from BSP-United Left, 18 from Democracy, Rights and Freedoms, and 17 from There Is Such a People. Against were 27 MPs from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), 32 from Vazrazhdane and eleven from Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh). One CC-DB MP abstained.

According to the adopted texts, the following revenue policies are set for 2025: the minimum monthly wage in the country is increased from BGN 933 to BGN 1,077 per from 1 January 2025. The maximum contributory income is increased from BGN 3,750 to BGN 4,130 as of 1 April 2025.

The amounts of social security contributions for all funds are kept the same, as well as the ratios between insurers and insured persons.

On the expenditure side, it is foreseen that the required retirement age and length of service for workers in the three categories of employment, as well as the minimum retirement age are increased. Work pensions granted until 31 December 2024 are updated as of 1 July 2025 by 8.6%. In 2025, the maximum amount of one or more pensions received will remain at BGN 3,400.

The minimum daily amount of the cash unemployment benefit - BGN 18.00 - and the maximum daily amount - BGN 107.14 - will be maintained, the Parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee report says. The 410-days period of payment of the allowance for pregnancy and childbirth and the BGN 780 allowance for raising a child up to the age of two are kept. Pensions expenditure in 2025 is expected to be around 11.2% of projected GDP for that year. For 2025, the total expenditure on cash benefits and allowances amounts to BGN 3,073.9 million, which is 20.7% more than the 2024 Public Social Insurance Budget Act.

According to the report, in the draft budget of the Public Social Insurance for 2025, the revenues have been increased by BGN 2,332.0 million in total compared to the budget for 2024, reaching BGN 15,215.9 million.