Caretaker Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova defended the parameters of the 2025 draft budget before the members of the National Assembly Committee on Budget and Finance. Minister Petkova explained that the 2025 Budget reflects the policies of recent years. Although the expenditures significantly exceed the revenues by 18 billion BGN (EUR 9.2 billion), the caretaker government submitted a budget with a deficit of 3% of the GDP, Lyudmila Petkova said. She reminded that the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan will end in mid-2026.
So far, Bulgaria has received two payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, totaling 2.7 billion BGN (EUR 1.38 billion), while 7.8 billion leva (EUR 3.99 billion) are yet to be received. According to her, the main problem of the plan is its wrong overall philosophy. "From the very beginning, the plan included difficult reforms that cannot be implemented", said Minister Petkova, noting that other EU member states included such difficult reforms at a later stage, reported BGNES. Lyudmila Petkova emphasized that Bulgaria is the only country that has not adopted the RePowerEU chapter. She also noted that the gray economy in Bulgaria is over 32% of the GDP, while in Croatia and Romania it is 28% of the GDP. According to her, "chaotic policies and legislation have been adopted in the country in recent years".
The Renew Europe political group in the European Parliament has established a working group to examine instances in which the Bulgarian government may have acted against the rule of law. The move comes in response to what the group describes as..
As of December 31, 2024, there were 3,765,000 people of working age, or 58.5% of the country's population. Men are 1,970,000, and women - 1,795,000. This was announced by the Deputy Chair of the National Statistical Institute (NSI)..
President Rumen Radev has sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa expressing his gratitude for the decision of the Republic of South Africa to lift visa requirements for short-term stays for Bulgarian citizens. Radev..
The President of the “Renew Europe” group in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer, called on the European Commission to urgently send a mission to..
Bulgaria could run into fuel shortages if the Lukoil Neftochim refinery stops operating, former Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov warned on..
On Thursday, minimum temperatures will range between 6 and 11°C across the country. Along the Black Sea coast, they will reach 13 to 16°C , while in Sofia..
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