Trade unions: Budget 2019 is better than any other during Borrisov’s governance

The Ministers of Finance and Social Policy - Vladislav Goranov and Biser Petkov on 25^th of October presented the draft budget for 2019 to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB). The draft envisages an increase in all wages in the budget sector by 10% on average from 1^st of January.

Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said that the government is doing everything possible to ensure Christmas bonuses for pensioners this year too. A final decision on this will be taken by mid- November.

The Finance Ministry announced the 2019 budget parameters at the beginning of this week. They envisage an increase in wages in the budget sector by 10%, which will be calculated on the basis of the estimates and achievements of each employee. Separately there is an increase in teachers’ salaries by 20%. The minimum wage from 1^st of January will reach 560 BGN and the maximum pension will be 1,200 BGN from 1^st of July. The remaining pensions are expected to go up by an average of 5.7% as of the same date.

According to CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov, the presented draft 2019 budget is the closest match to the demands of trade unions compared to other budgets so far.

However, there is one major drawback and it is that the tax burden in this budget will be borne mainly by the workers. Moreover, according to CITUB, nearly 30,000 pensioners will remain with low sizes of pensions the removal of the pension ceiling has been postponed.

Plamen Dimitrov, President of CITUB: For us the budget for the next year is better than all the budgets we have seen during the governance of PM Borissov. The expenditure increase in many of the items is significant and can provide good, I do not say the best, but good policies in the various sectors and especially a decent increase in the salaries of those approximately 440,000 people working in Bulgaria, who receive their wages from the budget.

Immediately after the presentation, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov made a comment on the budget. According to him, a deficit in the next budget is set deliberately, although it is at the minimum level of 0.5%. It will serve as a buffer in the event that the economic situation gets complicated next year. Goranov also pointed out that the budget would be zeroed, ie without surplus and deficit in 2020.

Vladislav Goranov, Minister of Finance: Of course, we can not expect a 100% match of positions of the trade unions and the government, but I will also agree that this time we are quite close to what trade union members expect.

The Cabinet will present the parameters of the state budget tomorrow in a tripartite council, attended by both employers and trade unions.

The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) announced that they will submit an alternative budget. They offer a progressive income tax on individuals, as well as a "capital" tax on dividends. Socialists offer 9% VAT for medicines and 5% for bread. The proposals were presented in Parliament a few minutes ago by BSP leader Kornelia Ninova.

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