MPs Hear Caretaker Finance Minister on the Condition of the State Budget

At the request of “Progressive Bulgaria”, caretaker Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski was heard by MPs in Parliament on May 7.

Lawmakers sought clarity on the real state of the national budget and whether, as they put it, “financial fires” need to be extinguished. The minister described the condition of public finances as adequate.

He stressed that MPs should not forget that the state is currently operating under an extended budget framework. According to him, this has contributed to an increase in the deficit due to higher expenditure on wages compared with 2025 levels.

He acknowledged that by the end of April the deficit stood at €1.7 billion, or 1.4% of GDP. However, he said this was not driven by the central government budget, but rather by the budgets of the National Health Insurance Fund, the State Social Security system, and municipalities.

Georgi Klisurski, caretaker Finance Minister:
“The state of the finances is adequate, taking into account the circumstances in which we are operating, namely an extended budget. The most important task will be the adoption of the 2026 budget, which will show how the year will truly end and how public finances will evolve. The fiscal reserve stands at €6.8 billion. Compared with previous years, this is a high level — in other words, there is currently money in the state. Revenues are growing at a double-digit rate compared with last year. We managed, in what depends on the Council of Ministers, to keep the state budget at break-even for the month, but in the National Social Security Institute, the Health Insurance Fund and municipalities there was an additional deficit of €220 million in April.”

He added that revenues up to April had increased by 11%.

The caretaker Minister also noted that it would be necessary to execute 89% of payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, as only 11% had been disbursed by the end of 2025.

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