Simeon Djankov defends the 2012 budget all by himself

Finance Minister Simeon Djankov was the only minister defending the 2012 budget during its second reading in parliament yesterday. The 2012 Budget Bill was not fully adopted by the time Klassa daily went to print.

The expected deficit for next year is 1.35% less than the 2% projected in the initial draft. "We will not support these proposals that actually change the revenues and the deficit," countered MP Aliosman Imamov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. "A considerably greater amount - BGN 5.2 mln - is planned for capital expenditures next year. Most of it will come from the EU and will, therefore, depend on decisions outside Bulgaria. Some 88% of these expenditures will be directed to large infrastructure projects and will be managed in a centralised way," argued Imamov. According to the Finance Minister, however, the budget can be fulfilled because it is based on 1% GDP growth.

"If the expected growth is not achieved next year, which is more likely to happen than not, it is quite possible that the level of projected revenues will not be reached, although they have been based on economic growth of 1%," commented Martin Dimitrov, Co-Chairman of the Blue Coalition.

Between the first and the second reading of the 2012 Budget Bill, an essential amendment to the State Social Security Insurance Act concerning the pension reform was adopted. Another amendment concerns an additional BGN 5 mln to the budget of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. "According to the budget draft, the expected revenues from taxes amount to BGN 17.03 bn, which shows the existence of a large gray sector," said Plamen Oresharski from Coalition for Bulgaria.

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