Bulgaria’s parliament will certainly overturn the presidential veto on the budget revision, according to the finance minister.

“Bulgaria’s President Rossen Plevneliev vetoed amendments to the country’s 2013 budget on political grounds only, defending political parties, which want to topple the government,” Bulgaria’s Finance Minister Petar Chobanov said in an interview for local Trud daily.

Adopted at the end of last month by the Socialist-led government, the amendments would have paved the way for a spending deficit of 2% of GDP as opposed to 1.4%, which was to be financed by external debt.

The finance minister defended the amendments, saying the budget revision aims to correct the country’s fiscal policies from the last few years, which hampered economic growth and limited the opportunities for assistance to vulnerable groups in the society, as well as set right the misleading forecast for revenues and spending.

The budget revision provides for a new loan in the amount of BGN 1 B to be used as a buffer for the fiscal reserve in 2014, when Bulgaria must make new payments on its foreign debt. Other funds will be slated for the overdue money for the business and for social measures.

Economic growth is revised down to 1% from the original figure of 1.9%, while deficit increases by BGN 493 M, accounting for 2% of forecasted GDP.

Members of parliament from the ruling Socialist and ethnic Turkish parties, together with the nationalists, are expected to unite to overturn the veto.

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