Bulgaria's minfin sees budget surplus at 307 mln euro at end-April

In January-April 2023, Bulgaria's consolidated budget was in deficit of some 1.1 billion levs.

Consolidated budget expenditure is seen at some 22.1 billion levs as of the end of April, compared to 20.9 billion levs a year earlier, the ministry said in a statement last week, quoting preliminary data. The rise is driven by higher pension payments and personnel costs.

Consolidated budget revenue is forecast to have grown by an annual 14.5% to 22.7 billion levs in the review period. The increase is chiefly due to higher tax and non-tax revenue, as well as income from aid and donations.

The country's consolidated budget was in surplus of 403.7 million levs at the end of March, equivalent to 0.2% of the forecast 2024 GDP, the finance ministry said in a separate statement last week.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)