October 28 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria on Wednesday said it approved a balanced budget draft for next year, aiming to maintain stability through fiscal prudence.
The priority areas for budget spending in 2010 are the social sector, education, health care, environment and infrastructure, the government said in a statement on its website.
"The slowdown of the Bulgarian economy and the lack of timely countermeasures in the early stages of the crisis are having a negative impact on the consolidated budget programme with the risks to revenue targets seen persisting through 2010," the statement said.
Social spending will account for 37.3% of total outlays or 15.3% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP).
Spending on education is projected at 4.2% of GDP with health care spending unchanged from this year at 4.2% of GDP. Bulgaria has spent around 4.0% of GDP on education in recent years.
Consolidated budget revenue is projected at 26.4 billion levs ($19.97 billion/13.5 billion euro), equivalent to 41.6% of GDP. Tax revenues are budgeted at 20.9 billion levs, the statement said.
The draft will be sent for approval to parliament on Thursday.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)