Bulgarian State Budget to Project 1.8% Economic Growth in 2013

Bulgaria's 2013 State Budget Act will most likely project a 1.8% GDP growth for next year, announced Menda Stoyanova, a MP from the ruling center-right party GERB and chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget.

However, Stoyanova was unable to confirm that the 1.8% economic growth forecast of the Bulgarian government for 2013 will be final, adding that the Borisov Cabinet and the GERB MPs will still have to check out the government's economic analysis in the fall.

In her words, in 2013, Bulgaria's state budget deficit will be about the same as in 2012 – or about 1.3%.

She also said the state budget law for next year will provide for slightly higher state spending but will also seek to increase tax revenues to compensate for the increase in expenditures.

Stoyanova said the Bulgarian government will likely provide more funding for education, social policy, health care, and innovations but refused to provide specific figures.

She pointed out that the Cabinet does not plan any changes in taxes, and that it intends to raise the minimum monthly salary from BGN 290 to BGN 310 as of January 1, 2013.

In 2013, which will be a year for parliamentary elections in Bulgaria with the Borisov Cabinet's term expiring in the summer, the government also plans to increase all retirement pensions by 10%.