Bulgarian Parliament to Discuss 2016 Draft Budget

The Bulgarian parliament will discuss at first reading on Thursday the draft government budget for next year.

In the plenary chamber on Wednesday, the MPs approved the budgets of the National health insurance fund (NZOK) and the State Social Insurance.

 All 23 permanent parliamentary committees presented their reports on Wednesday.

The 2016 draft budget and the accompanying mid-term framework foresee a deficit of BGN 1.8 B or 2 % (compared to this year's 3.3 %), economic growth of 2.1 % (compared to 2 % in 2015), increase of revenues by BGN 1.35 B and increase of expenditures by BGN 271 M.

At the same time an update of the 2015 budget is proposed, which foresees an increase of the deficit to 3 %.

The government is also expected to take a new BGN 5.3 B loan.

The largest share of the budget next year – 35 %, which amounts to BGN 12 B, will be allocated to social expenditures.

Nearly BGN 4 B will go to healthcare, close to BGN 3 B will be allocated to education, while BGN 3.3 B are foreseen for defence and security.

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