Bulgarian Parliament Adopts 2013 Budget Bill
Bulgaria's parliament passed on Thursday the 2013 budget bill, providing for 20 million levs ($13.4 million/10.2 million euro) more subsidies for the local municipalities than envisaged in the initial draft.
The municipalities will receive a total of 1.94 billion levs in state subsidies next year, parliament said in a statement published on its website.
The ceiling for newly issued state debt for next year is set at 2.0 billion levs, while the amount of state guarantees is limited to 200 million levs, the state-run Bulgarian National Television reported on Thursday.
Next year's budget act projects 1.9% economic growth and gross domestic product (GDP) of 81.49 billion levs. The budget gap is seen at 1.1 billion levs, which is equivalent to 1.3% of the projected GDP, almost unchanged from the 1.35% gap planned for this year.