site.btaCultural Institutions, Students in Residential Care Get Larger Financing

The Council of Ministers Wednesday increased by 8% the value indicators of the standards for the financing of the state-owned cultural heritage and library institutions and of the regional museums, art galleries and libraries, and by 4% of the chitalishta (community centres) as of January 1, 2023. The financing needed for the increase, including pay rises, totals BGN 12.3 million.

The standard for financing increases as follows: of the state-owned cultural and audiovisual heritage institutions from BGN 27,837 to BGN 30,064 per subsidized unit; of the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library from BGN 27,404 to BGN 29,596 per subsidized unit; of regional museums and art galleries from BGN 25,480 to BGN 27,518 per subsidized unit; and of regional libraries from BGN 24,500 to BGN 26,460 per subsidized unit.

The standard for the financing of the chitalishta increases from BGN 13,940 to BGN 14,497 per subsidized unit.

The decision introduces a supplementary standard of BGN 38 for the monthly allowances to students placed in residential care homes in line with the Child Protection Act. As of January 1, 2023, the monthly allowance per school student placed in a crisis centre, in a family-type accommodation centre for children and young people without/with disabilities and in transitional housing is BGN 90. The resources needed to apply the standard total BGN 1.7 million, which will increase the monthly allowance of nearly 3,720 school students.

A total of BGN 14 million needed to implement the decision will come from the planned central government expenditures for 2023.