Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Bulgaria’s government hopes to submit its regular budget by the end of June, while warning that public finances are under severe strain and that restoring fiscal balance will be a difficult task.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Shumen, where he attended the opening of new production facilities at the Alcomet plant, Radev described the financial situation as exceptionally complicated. He stated that the state treasury is effectively depleted and argued that many of the budgetary practices used by previous administrations can no longer be repeated.
“There is no money in the treasury. All the accounting tricks have already been exhausted by previous governments and cannot be applied,” the prime minister said.
According to Radev, the government is currently focused on two priorities: increasing revenue collection and reducing expenditures. He noted that work on the 2026 budget is continuing almost around the clock as officials search for ways to lower the deficit while keeping new borrowing to a minimum.
The prime minister argued that state-owned companies have already been drained of resources through previous financial measures. He said some enterprises are now forced to take out loans to finance capital projects and meet other obligations. He also pointed out that one-time revenue measures, including taxes collected from the banking sector in the previous year, cannot be repeated.
