site.btaBudget Deficit Hits 3.1% in 2025, Ministry of Finance Says

Bulgaria ended 2025 with a 3.1% budget deficit on a cash basis, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The consolidated fiscal programme recorded a deficit of BGN 6.828 billion, based on monthly cash-execution reports from primary budget spending units.

The ministry said that despite numerous comments that the budget balance had deteriorated sharply against the indicative target for the year (a deficit of 3% of projected GDP), the budget year ended with a minimal deviation of just 0.1% of projected GDP.

Given the challenges, significant efforts were made during budget implementation to improve revenue collection and maintain spending discipline, the ministry said.

Key parameters of the consolidated fiscal programme for 2025:

Based on monthly cash-execution reports from primary budget spending units, revenue, grants and donations under the consolidated fiscal programme in 2025 totaled BGN 86.086 billion, equivalent to 95.4% of the annual estimates. Compared with the previous year, receipts increased by BGN 14.071 billion (19.5%), the largest nominal revenue rise in several years. Tax revenue contributed most, rising by 15.3% from 2024 (BGN 8.986 billion in nominal terms). Non-tax revenue increased by BGN 2.168 billion from 2024, while receipts from grants and donations were up by BGN 2.916 billion.

Expenditure under the consolidated fiscal programme in 2025 (including the contribution to the European Union (EU) budget) amounted to BGN 92.914 billion, equivalent to 96.1% of the annual estimates.

For comparison, consolidated fiscal programme expenditure in 2024 totaled BGN 78.178 billion, bearing in mind that in February 2024 a BGN 1.200 billion transaction was recorded to reimburse expenditure from a foreign-funds account of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works back to the ministry’s budget. Excluding this transaction for comparability, expenditure in 2025 increased by BGN 13.535 billion (17.1%). The increase was driven mainly by higher social and health insurance spending (up BGN 4.141 billion, or 11.9%), personnel costs (up BGN 4.050 billion, or 20%), capital expenditure and transfers (BGN 3.514 billion, up 43.9% on a comparable basis), and other items, the ministry said.

The data show that the sharp rise in capital expenditure was mainly due to much higher payments for projects financed through EU funds accounts; under the Recovery and Resilience Plan alone, spending and transfers paid by the National Fund to beneficiaries amounted to BGN 2.790 billion, the ministry added. This meant that spending under the plan in 2025 was nearly twice as high as the total payments recorded over the previous two years, reflecting the plan’s renegotiation and faster implementation over the past year, the ministry said.

Bulgaria’s contribution to the EU budget paid from the central budget as of December 31, 2025 totaled BGN 2.036 billion, in line with the legislation currently in force on the EU’s own resources.

The nominal government debt taken on under the State Debt Act stood at BGN 61.4 billion as of December 31, 2025, and the debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of December 2025 was 27.8%.

The fiscal reserve stood at BGN 17.467 billion as of December 31, 2025, including BGN 14.865 billion in deposits at the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) and commercial banks and BGN 2.601 billion in receivables from EU funds for certified expenditure, advances and other items, the ministry said.

In a draft 2025 State Budget Act published on December 9, 2024, the caretaker Ministry of Finance set a deficit target of 3% of projected GDP.

On March 21, 2025, the National Assembly adopted the macroeconomic framework for the 2025 State Budget on second reading, planning a deficit of BGN 7,132,647,400 and allowing up to BGN 18.9 billion in new debt.

By the end of October 2025, the cash deficit stood at BGN 6.59 billion, or 2.98% of projected GDP, the ministry said on December 1, 2025.