„In addition to submitting an application, there is also the preparation of a medium-term fiscal plan. It should have been ready by yesterday. Based on the criteria, plus this plan, Bulgaria will be assessed for entry into the eurozone. This is mandatory and we are very late, because it should have been ready together with the budget“, emphasized the lecturer at the Department of Finance“ at the UNWE Dimitar Chobanov in “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov“.
According to him, the document includes both the budget plan for this year and how public finances will develop until the end of 2028. “We still need to see the implementation of the “State Government“ budget for 2024, which is not yet available either. These are the notorious 3% of GDP, which should not be exceeded“, the expert explained.
We recall that the past week was filled with financial news. Starting with the fulfillment of the criteria for membership in the Eurozone, passing through the probability that we will lose hundreds of millions from the second tranche of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. And in the end – the budget, which will soon enter the plenary hall.
„What we saw that started happening since the beginning of the year, continued and intensified in February, is an acceleration of inflation. It is due to local and international reasons, but the local ones are related to the restoration of the full VAT rate for bread and flour, as well as for restaurants. Administrative prices were also increased“, Chobanov emphasized.
According to the lecturer in the “Finance“ department, 33.7% VAT revenues are not feasible. „What the data for previous years show is that the maximum VAT increase that has occurred, even in a situation of much higher inflation, the rate was around 18%. Now we are talking about much higher“, he noted.