site.btaBulgaria's GDP at Its Highest Level Ever - Deputy Finance Minister Klissurski

The Bulgarian economy has never been bigger; the GDP is at its highest level ever, Deputy Finance Minister Georgi Klissurski said here on Thursday, as quoted by his ministry. He was speaking at a presentation of a World Bank review of public finances in Bulgaria between 2016 and 2022.

The document was elaborated by leading economists and looks into detail at Bulgaria's fiscal position after the series of shocks and crises, incomes, effectiveness and efficiency of state expenditure, demographic trends and their impact on key sectors.

Klissurski said that in 2023, Bulgaria's GDP is expected to reach some BGN 190 billion, making it two-fold bigger than in the last five years alone, when it stood at BGN 100 billion. In his words, the Bulgarian economy has been constantly growing, and it is expected to be around 2% for 2023, far above the 1.8% forecast by the Finance Ministry.

"The 2023 budget deficit is around 2.2% of GDP and is entirely within the criteria for the country's entry in the eurozone. This result is better than in 2022, when the deficit was 2.9%," he commented. The government debt amounted to 21.6% of GDP last year, compared with 22.1% in December 2022. This is the EU's second-lowest debt-to-GDP ratio and is far below the 60% required under the Maastricht criteria. 

"In 2023, for the first time we implemented the capital programme almost in its entirety: at 98%. Out of the BGN 8.1 billion set aside, a total of BGN 7.9 billion were absorbed," Klissurski noted. A total of BGN 10 billion are allocated for the capital programme in this year's budget, up by 25% from 2023, he added.