Bulgarian Parliament to Continue Discussion of 2016 Budget at Second Reading

The Bulgarian parliament will continue discussing the draft government budget for next year at second reading on Wednesday after it approved it at first reading late on Tuesday evening.

At their extraordinary plenary sitting on Tuesday, the MPs adopted the frame of the budget and the funds to be allocated to the interior ministry, daily Dnevnik informs.

They also approved the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK).

The first document to be discussed on Wednesday will be the budget of the justice ministry.

The MPs dropped the proposed cuts to the social benefits of police officials, which had been the cause of large-scale police protests across the country in the beginning of November.

Meanwhile, the MPs approved several proposals, which increase the initially foreseen expenditures by BGN 20 M.

The Reformist Bloc (RB) proposed food vouchers for next year to have a total value of BGN 260 M, with the proposal still to be adopted in the plenary chamber.

A BGN 10 M increase of the salaries of museum and library workers, who protested symbolically last week, is also foreseen.

The salaries of officials in several institutions is also planned to take place after internal restructuring.

The draft budget foresees a deficit of BGN 1.8 B, increase of pensions by 2.5 % from 1 July 2016, increase of the minimum working age to BGN 420.