Bulgaria Parliament Votes on Budget Draft 2011
Bulgaria's parliament will vote at first reading the country's budget draft for next year, which Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov handed to parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva on October 1.
Bulgaria is planning to sell bonds amounting to EUR 1 B on the international market in 2011 to shore up its finances, according to a finance ministry draft paper.
Bulgaria aims to have a budget deficit of 2.5% of gross domestic product and a growth of 3.6% in 2011, according to the budget draft.
In budget 2011, financing is going up the most in the social assistance, defense and health care sectors, according to the draft.
The draft budget however does not take into account the increase by 1.8 percentage points in social contributions payments, which was agreed by the government, representatives of the employers and trade unions in the middle of October.