Bulgaria to Spend BGN 100 M Yearly on Pension Allowances

Bulgarian Finance Minister Petar Chobanov, Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's government is planning to spend BGN 100 M (EUR 50 M) a year on Christmas and Easter pension allowances.

In 2015 alone, BGN 265 M (EUR 132.5 M) are to be put aside for pensions.

Their minimum threshold is expected to increase from BGN 154.50 (EUR 87.25) to BGN 168.50 (EUR 89.25) by July 1, 2017.

At a new conference revealing the cabinet's 2015-2017 midterm budget projections, Finance Minister Petar Chobanov also said the attempts will be made to increase its expenditures on education and local governance, Dariknews.bg has reported.

Some BGN 12 M (EUR 6 M) will be dedicated to fighting unemployment in 2015, as the cabinet hopes to reduce the share of jobless people in Bulgaria from over 12% to 10.9% in 2017.

The budget deficit will account for 1.5% of GDP in 2015, with an estimated drop to 0.9% by 2017.

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