In the 2025 budget whether there will be a hole or not depends on the people who write it, said the co-chairman of the PP and former Finance Minister Assen Vassilev in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
"For 2024, the deficit is 3%, it is about the single account in the BNB and there is no way to change it, thank God, despite Borisov's pressure", he said and pointed out that with the policies set, there is no way the budget will be without a deficit.
"The only policies set by the National Assembly are pensions, social spending, increasing incomes, and the total value according to Temenuzhka Petkova is 5.5 billion leva. From the growth of the economy alone, there will be a growth of 6 billion leva.That is, the legacy of Assen Vassilev is plus 500 million leva, not minus 18 billion leva. Everything else is a variety of demands that the government has decided to satisfy," said Assen Vassilev.
And he added:
"There is a 30% increase in salaries in the Council of Ministers. It makes no sense for it to happen with 2.2% inflation, in all types of administrations where it is planned. There is a total cost of about 2 billion leva. This is indicated by the preliminary estimates that were shown on Thursday. Let's see what is the obligation by law and what they have decided to do. Borisov says, "let's not raise the VAT for restaurateurs" and here they refused 300 million leva in revenue. He had promised then to find 300 million leva less in expenses. The rest is in maintenance. We kept it at 500 - 600 million leva. for 3 years, and now they want to increase it by 1.5 billion leva for current repairs. The other thing we see for 2024 was 10 billion leva capital expenditures, of which, according to the Ministry of Finance, 6 and a little have been spent. The implementation is not 70% of the capital program. Now, if you have put in 10, spent 6, how much will you plan for 2025? Maybe 10 billion leva in the hope that it will be spent. They have put in 15 billion leva."
Vassilev also commented on the money for the municipal program and pointed out that there are delays, but not with financing, but with implementation - public procurement, builders, etc.
"It is impossible to manipulate the data, it has never happened, because the income and expenditure account is in the BNB and the balances are published every week. We will see about the hole from the draft budget. There is no document that says, "negative balance 18 billion leva" and Borisov's problem is that over time these documents come out."
The former finance minister believes that this is being said to create a psychosis among citizens. He sees three lines:
"The first is to prepare us for lean pizza – "there is no money and we have to tighten our belts". We will give to the restaurateurs, but there are no reliefs for young families. The second is that entering the eurozone creates coalition problems for Borisov. With the BSP and ITN, we know how difficult the euro plan was and how deep the resistance is. Now, in the name of the government, they may take a turn. The third thing that can be seen is, "this is how bad everything is, and now it will be good for us". This never works, in finance there are clear numbers and they are measured by international organizations. A week ago they confirmed the credit rating. If there had been a collapse in financial policy, the rating would have been reduced."
Vasilev said that "we reoriented the economy in parts towards domestic consumption, which helped a large part of the growth to happen".
About coalition relations he explained:
"There is more specialization on topics, it is not serious for me to talk about judicial reform. My colleagues from the State Duma have left topics for us to lead. I do not think that this hinders the work in the National Assembly, on the contrary, it helps, because it gives a wider range of options, and we have a common goal clearly defined and it brought together the 2023 coalition. spring.
And he recalled:
"We have stated that everything in our program - entering the eurozone and increasing income for education, healthcare, we will support it. We will also support continued support for Bulgarian business, but in a fairer way, so that there is no discrimination, who, what. And it is not a question of whether we are the opposition, but that it is right to do it for the people and business."