Bulgaria's centrist-right GERB cabinet will increase the minimum wage in the country from BGN 270 (approximately EUR 139) to BGN 290, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced Friday, just two days before the presidential election runoff featuring his party's candidate, Rosen Plevneliev.

On Sunday, Plevneliev will face left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party's runner Ivaylo Kalfin.

A total of BGN 25 M will be spent from the state budget on the minimum wage increase that is to take place in 2012. In an interview for the local Nova TV, Borisov also revealed that retirement pensions will be increased next year by a total of BGN 250 M.

"There are a lot of retired people, so (the increase) will not be so tangible," the Prime Minister admitted. He pointed out that Bulgaria's 2012 budget still has to pay the financial burden left by the country's former three-way government.

As of September 1, 2011, the Borisov Cabinet increased the minimum monthly wage from BGN 240 to BGN 270 and the widows' retirement allowances by 25%.

The state is obliged to pay BGN 25 for the construction of the so-called "Water Mirror" project in the southern city of Kardzhali, Borisov reiterated, adding that budget money also has to be spent on border police helicopters ordered by the former cabinet.

"Bulgaria is a disciplined nation, we care about our children. Those who create a deficit force their children to pay it off," the Prime Minister said.

"The next generations will say "Thank you, Boyko - or thank you, Bate Boyko - that you did not succumb back then, so that we can live in a decent European state now," he declared. ("Bate" means literally "big brother" in Bulgarian. "Bate Boyko" is informally used in Bulgaria as either an affectionate or an ironic way of referring to the Prime Minister.

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