Bulgarian state budget parameters for March remain stable despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, announced Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in a Facebook post.
“Our disciplined and consistent approach towards maintaining a well-balanced trade balance allowed us to remain economically stable during the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus. In 2019, we moved a position up and ranked second in the European Union in terms of lowest governmental sector debt ratio by accounting for 20.4% of the national GDP. In compassion to 2018, we further lowered the debt ratio by an additional 1.9%. In January and February, the annual turnover in the industrial sector increased by 9.7%. There was an increase in retail turnover as well and an increase in export by 4.9%. The country’s key performance indicators for March remain stable and we are still within budget. In addition, the national fiscal program accounted for an increase in tax collection of 1.2% of the forecasted national GDP,” announced the PM.
Prime Minister Borisov stressed that the negative fiscal effects of the economy shut down across all European Union country members and third trade partner countries are yet to be experienced, especially during the second and third quarters of the year.
“You can see why we took immediate and drastic measures to protect the employment in Bulgaria with the “60-40” financial aid program followed by a number of additional measures in aid of the public and the local businesses. So far, all state funding for major infrastructural projects remains uninterrupted which is expected to encourage investments and to cushion the expected future decline in governmental spendings,” said Borisov in his social media post.
The PM reminded that a number of operational programs are being restructured in order to provide an additional 870 million Bulgarian levs for containing the spread of the new coronavirus and limiting the negative impact on the economy.
He also stressed that Bulgaria was economically stable even before the global pandemic and that may serve for a more speedy recovery.
Experts believe this could happen by the end of 2021.
PM Borisov further stressed that the Bulgarian government will make everything in its power to turn the forecast into reality.
