site.btaNational Tripartite Council to Discuss Poverty Line for 2025

The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss a draft decree of the Council of Ministers (CoM) on setting the poverty line for the country for 2025, submitted by the Labour and Social Policy Minister, the government press service said.

Cabinet proposes the poverty line to be BGN 638 as of January 1, 2025. For 20214 it is BGN 526. 

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) says that the poverty line for 2025 should be BGN 667, and not BGN 638. A position paper published on the CITUB website states that the union does not accept the approach to setting the poverty line and will not support the draft decree of the Council of Ministers.

CITUB insists that the methodology for determining the poverty line be seriously refined by defining the minimum needs that guarantee a certain social minimum per person in a household, the position states. The trade union considers it imperative to carry out an annual assessment/check on the adequacy of the poverty line, "by comparing it with a targeted consumer basket designed to guarantee the social minimum per household member".