Bulgaria Finally with Positive EU Payment, Foreign Aid Balance

Bulgaria's balance of foreign aid and EU payments has become positive after it collapsed in 2009. Graph by investor.bg

Bulgaria has registered a surplus of EUR 432 M in its dealings with the EU and other international donors over the past 12 months.

Thus, for the first time Bulgaria is receiving more money from the EU in grants than it is contributing to the joint budget of the Union, according to data of the Bulgarian National Bank and estimates of Investor.bg.

The new data indicates a reversal of the situation until the end of 2009 when Bulgaria was actually a net contributor to the EU budget because of its troubles with the absorption of the EU funds, especially in mid 2008 when the European Commission froze some EUR 500 M in aid for the country from the pre-accession programs over detected irregularities.

The BNB figures show that in May 2009-May 2010, Bulgaria received a total of EUR 867 M mostly from the EU, plus some aid from Japan, Switzerland, Norway, and other donors, while it contributed about EUR 435 M to the EU budget as a membership fee, and other international funds.

The major reason for long-time negative EU payment balance of Bulgaria, the poorest EU member-state hoping to improve infrastructure and living standards with EU funds, has been the delay in the start of the absorption of the structural program funds after the expiration of the pre-accession programs.

The Bulgarian government is looking forward to an increasingly positive EU payment balance in the upcoming months confirming the launch of the structural funds absorption. This will be largely due to the construction of major infrastructure projects such as the final lots of the Trakiya Highway with EU money.

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