Bulgarian parliament adopts budget until March 2022 at first reading
The Bulgarian Parliament has voted today on extending the validity of last year's state budget until the end of March 2022. The bill was passed at first reading by the ruling four-party coalition. The opposition parties GERB and MRF abstained from voting while the Vazrazhdane party voted against. A number of changes in the law are expected to take place until the second reading.
Kiril Ananiev from GERB described the extension of the old state budget expenditures at the new inflation prices as unprecedented. The chairman of the budget committee from the parliamentary majority, Lyubomir Karimanski, countered this argument, referring to the crisis years in the new Bulgarian history of 1993 and 1997.
The ruling coalition promises to submit the 2022 budget to parliament by the end of the month, and to have it adopted in February.