September 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s consolidated budget deficit in August decreased by 81.4% on the month to a preliminary 105 million levs ($77.7 million/53.7 million euro), the country’s finance ministry said on Tuesday.
In July the consolidated budget deficit was 564.3 million levs, compared to 377.5 million levs in June, the ministry said in a statement.
“The efforts that we made in August will continue over the ensuing months, so that we can achieve a balanced budget at the end of 2009,” Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov said in the statement. He added that next year's budget will also be balanced.
Consolidated revenue through August is estimated at 16,605.6 million levs, or 81% of the government target for the period, and 51% of the annual target, the statement said. Budget spending for the first eight months of the year totalled 17,096.3 million levs, or 56.3% of the total projected annual spending.
The country had a budget surplus equivalent to 3.0% of gross domestic product last year.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)