site.btaFinance Minister Warns against "Illusions" about Public Investments and Infrastructure Development

There can be no talk of spending for investment and building infrastructure at this time, as the situation with the public finances is extremely worrying, the gap in the budget is BGN 18 billion, said Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova in Parliament at the hearing on the virtual queue for heavy goods vehicles on the Danube Bridge at Ruse. According to her, the costs associated with the investments are extremely important, but only if the relevant infrastructure is in place for the systems to function normally. She also reminded that Bulgaria is applying an extended budget law from 2024, and the country can only spend as much as it raises in revenue - i.e. there is no room for extraordinary investments, especially as the situation with public finances at this point is worrying.

For January this year, according to the estimates of the Ministry of Finance, the revenue to be collected is BGN 3,684,000,000, and the expenditure is BGN 3,277,000,000, so that the systems can function normally, Petkova explained. In February, the expected revenue is BGN 2,266,706,000, the expenditure is BGN 4 billion, so the deficit for February will be BGN 1.735 billion. In March, the expected revenue is BGN 3.062 billion, the expenditure is BGN 4.553 billion, and or the deficit will be BGN 1.491 billion. In total, the minister concluded, for the first quarter of this year, by the end of the extended budget, the deficit is expected to be BGN 3.634 billion. “This means that we have no possibility for serious investments and investment expenditures within this three-month period,” Temenuzhka Petkova stressed. In the words of the Finance Minister, the longer there is no regular budget, the bigger the deficit will be, therefore, such a law should be drafted in the shortest possible time with adequate measures. 

On Thursday, the Zhelyazkov cabinet decided to withdraw from the National Assembly the bills on the state budget, the budgets of the National Social Security Institute, the National Health Insurance Fund, as well as the tax bills.

Regarding the possibility to speed up the repair of the Danube Bridge at Ruse, the Chairman of the Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency Yordan Valchev pointed out that at the second stage of the repair some elements have been optimized, which allows a 5-10% acceleration, but there are bad days, you can not work all the time, for example at night.

Vazrazhdane asked what action will be taken against the persons who allowed the corrupt practice with the virtual queue. Interior Minister Daniel Mitov pointed out that there is no longer border control at the Bulgarian-Romanian border. Border police carry out checks on alerts, they do their job, if there are reports of corruption, they respond to them, he assured.