site.btaUPDATED NSSI Supervisory Board Approves 2026 Draft Public Social Insurance Budget

The Supervisory Board of Bulgaria's National Social Security Institute (NSSI) approved the draft Public Social Insurance Budget Act for 2026, the Institute said on Thursday. The draft reflects the parameters of the social insurance policies planned for the current year and now proceeds to the next stages of the legislative process.

The NSSI said the draft budget will be reviewed by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, followed by approval by the Council of Ministers and final adoption by the National Assembly.

Ahead of the Supervisory Board meeting, Labour and Social Policy Minister Nataliya Efremova said the proposed budget guarantees that all pensions, social benefits and compensation payments will be fully funded and paid on time throughout the year, including at year-end. "With this budget, we categorically guarantee that all social payments, benefits and pensions will be fully secured without delays and will be paid throughout the year, including until the end of it," she said. Efremova also announced that all employment-related pensions will be increased by 7.8% under the Swiss rule as of July 1, raising the average pension to EUR 543.

Efremova explained that the draft includes changes to social insurance contributions and to the obligations of civil servants and judicial employees to pay their own insurance contributions. Under the proposal, beginning on August 1, civil servants would start covering 20% of the employee share of contributions that is currently paid entirely by the state. The remaining 20% would be transferred to employees from 2027. According to the Minister, the measure reflects public expectations and would promote greater fairness and equal treatment across the workforce.

She also described efforts to combat the shadow economy as one of the most important elements of the draft budget. The proposed measures aim to increase economic transparency and generate additional revenue for the public social security system.

Business organizations, however, voiced opposition to the proposal. Before the meeting, Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) Vice President Maria Mincheva said her organization would not support the draft budget at this stage. She voiced concern over the planned increase in both the maximum insurable income threshold and the minimum social insurance income levels. Mincheva argued that employers' organizations have long advocated for the abolition of minimum insurance thresholds altogether. After years of convergence across economic sectors and occupational groups, the draft now proposes stepped increases ranging from 12% to nearly 70% depending on the category and sector, with the changes taking effect on August 1, she said. Similar concerns, she added, apply to the planned increase in the maximum insurable income threshold.

She added that BIA has long been insisting for an introduction of a roadmap of the pension system "that would show how the various parameters are expected to evolve, the rate at which both the maximum insurable income and the amounts of the different benefits should increase, and how these are interconnected". Mincheva explained that whether wages of employees in sectors with increased minimal and maximum social security income will decrease depends primarily on employers’ decisions. 

Podkrepa Confederation of Labour President Dimitar Manolov also indicated before the meeting that he intended to vote against the draft budget.

The main parameters of Bulgaria's 2026 draft state budget were presented on Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Galab Donev. According to Donev, the projected budget deficit stands at 5.7% of gross domestic product.