site.btaDraft 2025 State Budget Adopted at Second Reading by Parliament's Budget and Finance Committee

Parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee adopted the draft 2025 State Budget Act at second reading on Thursday.

Early in the session, Committee Chair Delyan Dobrev said that Vazrazhdane had “deliberately abused” parliamentary procedure by filing nearly 38,000 amendments. Those amendments, submitted electronically with links, were put to a vote on admissibility and rejected. “Right now, you are casually dismissing the constitutional right of every MP to introduce legislative changes,” said Tsoncho Ganev (Vazrazhdane).

Among the motions turned down was one by Assen Vassilev (CC–DB) to increase tax relief for working parents by 50%. Other rejected proposals included removing a paragraph that allows voluntary contributions to the State budget from legal entities, scrapping a reduction of the VAT registration threshold, and limiting the new debt ceiling in 2025 to BGN 11.9–12 billion.

Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova defended the provision on voluntary budget contributions, citing projected revenue of BGN 50–80 million. Vassilev called it “racketeering,” arguing the State might withhold public investments if donations are not paid. Martin Dimitrov (CC–DB) unsuccessfully sought to block the VAT threshold decrease, saying it hurts small businesses.

The committee approved a proposal by Iliana Zhekova and Denitsa Sacheva (GERB–UDF) to amend Family Code provisions, enabling the Social Assistance Agency to conduct national adoption procedures. It also passed a motion by Yordan Tsonev (MRF–New Beginning) to create a State enterprise under the agriculture ministry, prioritizing Bulgarian goods at up to 10% markup.

Petkova noted that pensions, at BGN 24 billion, are heavily subsidized by taxes, warning the gap would widen without reforms. The 2025 budget envisions a 3% deficit (BGN 6.4 billion) that could drop to 2.2% of GDP over four years, while new debt might hit BGN 18.9 billion, raising total government debt to 26.6% of GDP.

The draft also raises excise rates on tobacco, upgrades fiscal controls, and increases the minimum insurable income for self-employed individuals and farmers to BGN 1,077 from April 1, 2025. Minimum wage rises to BGN 1,077 from January 1, 2025. State Social Insurance pension contributions remain unchanged in 2025–2026 but rise by 2 percentage points in 2027 and another 1 percentage point in 2028. Teachers’ salaries will be set at 125% of the 2024 average gross wage, adding BGN 499 million in personnel costs.

Earlier on Thursday, the committee approved the 2025 budgets for State Social Insurance and the National Health Insurance Fund at second reading.