Bulgaria FinMin Increases 2015 Budget Deficit Target to 3.3%

Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry has revised its target for this year's consolidated budget deficit to 3.3% of GDP from originally projected 3.0%.

The revision, which suggests a rise in spending by the end of the year, has been announced alongside the release of the 2016 budget draft and an updated budget forecast for the period 2016-2018 on Monday.

The Finance Ministry said earlier this month that the consolidated government budget is expected to have a surplus of BGN 627 M at the end of September equivalent to 0.7 % of the projected 2015 GDP. Bulgaria had a budget surplus of 0.7% of GDP at the end of August.

The increased rate of absorption of EU funds as a result of the closing of the 2007-2013 programming period, as well as other additional costs under autonomous budgets included in the 2015 consolidated budget are exerting the most significant additional pressure on budget spending, the Finance Ministry said.