Bulgaria Monthly Budget Deficit Shrinks down to BGN 92 M

The austerity measures introduced by Bulgaria's Finance Minister Djankov (second on the left) seem to be working as monthly deficit has declined. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s monthly budget deficit has declined to BGN 92,3 M in August 2009, according to Finance Ministry data.

This is a significant decrease as in July 2009 Bulgaria the deficit under the consolidated fiscal program (including the state budget and the National Social Security Institute) was BGN 564,3 M.

Yet, even though the crash measures of the new Finance Minister Simeon Djakov for limiting the state expenditures appear to be producing results, for the first eight months of 2009 Bulgaria still has a budget deficit of BGN 478,8 M.

The consolidated fiscal program expenditures have increased by 22% in the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008 reaching BGN 17 B, which is 56% of the planned amount for 2009.

This is mostly the result of the expansion of social and welfare expenses and advance payments on capital expenditures performed by the previous government before July 2009.

At the same time, Bulgaria’s state revenue for the first eight months of 2009 is only BGN 16,582 B, which is 50,9% of the total amount planned in the 2009 state budget.

Tax revenue in January-August 2009 amounted to BGN 13,254 B, or 51,5% of the total amount planned for 2009. This includes BGN 2,785 B from direct taxes, BGN 6,548 B from indirect taxes, BGN 3,986 B from value-added tax, and BGN 2,475 B from excise tax.

Bulgaria’s non-tax income in the first eight months of 2009 is BGN 2,381 B. The country has received BGN 945,2 M from EU’s structural and cohesion funds.

Bulgaria’s fiscal reserve has dropped slightly to BGN 7,667 B in the first eight months of 2009.

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