site.btaOutgoing Cabinet Has Kept Bulgaria's Public Financial Stability, Finance Minister Says

The outgoing Government has maintained this country's public finances in a stable condition, caretaker Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told a news conference at the Council of Ministers on Thursday.

She noted that Bulgaria is currently undergoing a crucially important stage of its development, ushered in by the eurozone entry on January 1, 2026. In her words, this became possible after the country successfully met all criteria for adopting the common European currency. The transition to the euro is proceeding smoothly and without jolts, and the Government has taken due care to ensure that the process is gradual and just, Petkova pointed out.

According to data on the implementation of the budget by December 2025, the end-of-year consolidated fiscal programme will show a deficit of up to 3%, deviating from the target by a negligible 0.1 percentage points, Petkova said. This gives the Government reason to conclude that it has managed to maintain stable public finances.

Petkova noted that Bulgaria is among the EU Member States with the lowest public debt-to-GDP ratio. She argued that this trend should be maintained, targeting the achievement of balanced budget that would contain the possibility to increase the amount of the debt within the deficit generated.

The caretaker Finance Minister pointed out further that in 2025 Bulgaria drew up its first National Medium-Term Fiscal-Structural Plan, which has been endorsed by the European Commission. She described this as a key step, as the implementation of the plan will make it possible to strike a balance between investments in important and strategic economic sectors and fiscal sustainability in the medium term.

Petkova singled out the negotiation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan as a key step towards the implementation of the planned reforms and investments. As of December 2025, EUR 2.3 billion have been disbursed under the Plan. "Bulgaria succeeded in receiving the second and third payments under the Recovery Plan, which made it possible to meet the parameters set out in the 2025 budget," the Finance Minister said.

She also stressed an improved budget revenue compliance rate and efforts to roll back the grey economy. In her words, the Government has coped successfully with this task, considering that 2025 saw the highest year-on-year increase in revenue collection in nominal terms: EUR 7 billion-plus.