Bulgaria's minfin sees end-March budget surplus at 205 mln euro

In the first quarter of 2023, Bulgaria's consolidated budget was in deficit of 662.4 million levs.

Consolidated budget expenditure is seen at some 15.4 billion levs as of the end of March, up from 15.35 billion levs a year earlier, the ministry said in a statement on Monday, quoting preliminary data. The rise is mainly due to increases in pension payments and personnel costs.

Consolidated budget revenue is expected to have added 7.5% on the year to 15.8 billion levs in the review period. The increase is driven by higher tax revenue and social security contributions.

The country's consolidated budget was in surplus of 994.4 million levs at the end of February, equivalent to 0.5% of the forecast 2024 GDP, the finance ministry said in a separate statement on Monday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)