Bulgarian government approves 100M leva to increase military pay
Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved on July 6 additional spending from the Defense Ministry budget of 100 million leva (about 50 million euro) to enable increasing the pay of military personnel and civilian employees of the ministry, according to a Defense Ministry statement.
The money is being shifted from other planned spending in the state Budget, the ministry said, without specifying from which items the money would be shifted.
The pay increases are to be made possible by the additional spending as well as from efficiencies in spending in the defense budget, the ministry said.
The statement said that in recent years, the Defense Ministry and Bulgaria’s military had experienced serious problems in attracting and retaining military and civilian employees.
Defense Minister Dragomir Zakov said that these problems also led to a lack of prospects for young military personnel.
Zakov said that the ministry was working on a plan to overcome the serious problem with the income imbalance in the system, as well as to clear some systemic errors that lead to a lack of prospects in the development of young military personnel.