Bulgarian Budget Deficit Set for BGN 7 Billion for 2021 by Outgoing Government

 Boyko Borissov's outgoing government is preparing to leave a heavy legacy. Instead of the deficit of BGN 4.9 billion planned in the State Budget Act, at the end of 2021 the treasury will be in the red by nearly BGN 7 billion, or 5.6% of GDP.

 This is written in the Convergence Program of Bulgaria for the period 2021-2023.

The document was adopted last week by the Council of Ministers, but has not yet been uploaded on the Finance Ministry's website.

 It is only available on the European Commission's website. It is important to recall that the Convergence Program is a strategic document presenting the main elements of the national fiscal policy in the medium term.

 The program is prepared annually by the Ministry of Finance and submitted for evaluation to the European Commission by the end of April at the latest (this year Bulgaria is almost a month late), according to the schedule of the so-called "European Semester" - an initiative for enhanced coordination of economic policies in the EU.

The program is one of the documents on the basis of which Bulgaria's readiness for membership in the euro area will be assessed. The intention for an estimated date for joining the "club of the rich" remains unchanged - January 1, 2024.

 The steps to achieve this goal are set out in the Convergence Program. In this sense, and in view of the fulfillment of the nominal convergence criteria (the so-called Maastricht criteria), the forecast in the texts is more than curious - in the medium term a deficit of 2.7% of GDP for 2022 is expected. and 3.1% for 2023 From 2012 to 2019, Bulgaria easily met the criteria for deficit (with one exception from 2014) and debt.

Things changed last year and the trend will obviously...