site.btaGovernment Proposes Draft Amendments to 2025 State Budget Act

At its regular sitting here on Wednesday, the Council of Ministers approved a bill amending and supplementing the 2025 State Budget Act to be proposed to the National Assembly for adoption. The revisions concern funding for priority projects under the Investment Programme for Municipal Projects, the Government Information Service said.

The changes are proposed by the Council of Ministers on the basis of proposals made by mayors of municipalities by June 30, 2025.

The amendments to the Investment Programme were drafted by the Ministry of Finance on the basis of proposals from the mayors of municipalities. Within the deadlines, letters were received from the mayors of 264 municipalities, with the exception of the municipality of Treklyano. In the letters, the mayors declare their wish to: keep 2,405 projects, change the parameters of 503 projects, drop 158 projects, and add 564 new projects to the Investment Programme.

The number of projects in the Programme's Annex increased by 406 to reach 3,472 projects.

With the proposed amendment to the Investment Programme for Municipal Projects, the estimated amount of funding for projects for the whole period becomes BGN 8,184.6 million, including BGN 3,879.2 million for 2025 and BGN 4,305.4 million for 2026-2027, covering 3,472 projects.

The projects are financed on the basis of agreements concluded between the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and the mayors of the respective municipalities with a deadline for implementation and commissioning by June 30, 2027.

The proposal for a new paragraph 17 of Article 113 of the bill to amend the 2025 State Budget Act aims to regulate the status of financing that municipalities will present as accounting of the funds received from the Bulgarian Development Bank for the financing of investment projects under agreements concluded with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

The bill also refines the text on ineligible costs in cases where the costs are paid with public funds, including the corresponding municipality's own funds or with borrowed funds.