Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Finance minister withdraws his support for 2023 budget

Finance Minister Assen Vassilev
Photo: BTA

After more than 11 hours of the budget committee meeting, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said that he no longer supported the 2023 budget. The reason is the sharply increased costs for salaries and other payments and the drastically cut measures to increase revenues. 

The amendments proposed by the parties were accepted at the second and final reading in the parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance. Whether they will stay depends on the parliament. 

The chairman of the budget committee, Yordan Tsonev from the MRF, said that he was not optimistic. 

MPs from all parties submitted 212 pages with 84 ideas for additions to the draft budget, which in total inflated the projected deficit from 3 to 30%. 

Proposals to return VAT to 20% for a number of sectors were rejected on the grounds that taxes could not be raised in the middle of the financial year.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov

Once again parliament rejects proposal for a referendum on the adoption of the euro

The National Assembly has once again rejected the proposal by Vazrazhdane party for the holding of a referendum on the adoption of the euro in Bulgaria. 50 MPs voted “for”, 112 “against and 53 abstained. PM Zhelyazkov: We’re past the time for..

published on 5/28/25 10:42 AM
Minister Zhecho Stankov

Bulgaria wants to pay Turkish gas company BOTAŞ only for the gas Bulgargaz has received

The contract with the Turkish state-run gas company BOTAŞ is as much a problem for the Bulgarian side as it is for the Turkish side, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said in an interview with public service TV BNT. He stated further that he had never..

published on 5/28/25 10:10 AM
Nayden Prahov, Director of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology

UNESCO expected to approve Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol as a regional underwater archaeology centre

The Ministry of Culture is expecting UNESCO to approve, by the end of 2025, the application of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol as a regional centre for underwater archaeology in the Black Sea region. The centre will be located..

published on 5/28/25 8:43 AM