Bulgaria’s Ministry of Finance Published State Budget Bill for 2018

On 23^rd of October, the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance published the state budget bill for 2018. It envisages new government debt of 1 billion BGN and more money for health, social policy and education.

The budget bill will be discussed by the Tripartite Council and the Cabinet.

The economy is projected to grow by almost 4%, the planned deficit is less than this year - 1%.

Additional BGN 330 million is provided for education, including the teachers’ pay rise by 15%. BGN 180 million is envisaged for programmes and scholarships.

Additional BGN 700 million will be provided for the security sector. BGN 100 million of these funds will be for the salaries in the army and BGN 55 million will be for the remunerations of the police personnel.

BGN 1 billion more is envisaged for social policies and healthcare.

The minimum wage is proposed to go up from the current BGN 460 to BGN 510 as of 1^st of January, 2018 and the pension contributions to increase by 1%.