2024 State Budget spending items approved on second reading

On Thursday, the National Assembly approved the following spending items from the 2024 State Budget Bill on second reading:

- The minimum amount of the fiscal reserve until December 31, 2024, is set at BGN 4.5 billion;

- The government debt may not exceed BGN 48 billion until December 31, 2024. A cap of BGN 11.7 billion is set on new government debt that may be assumed in 2024 as per the Government Debt Act;

- In 2024, political parties will receive a state subsidy of BGN 8 for every vote won in the latest parliamentary elections in accordance with the Political Parties Act;

- School students who will be in eighth grade in the 2024/2025 school year will receive a one-off allowance of BGN 300. The same amount will be provided to kids in first, second, third and fourth grade;

- Families will receive BGN 375 as a one-off allowance on the birth of a first child in 2024 under the Family Allowances for Children Act, BGN 900 for a second child, BGN 450 for a third baby, and BGN 300 on the birth of a fourth and every next child;

- An additional monthly benefit of BGN 100 will be provided for a child with lasting disabilities of 50% and over until 18 years of age;

- State-owned higher education establishments may assume a maximum debt of BGN 20 million to fund projects using financial instruments. The debt must be coordinated with the education minister, who will judge whether the respective establishment has the capacity to service such a debt;

- Public-financed organizations housed in state- or municipal-owned buildings will not be required to pay rent;

- The 2024 subsidies to municipalities for activities delegated by the central government were also approved on second reading. Among the larger municipalities, Sofia will be subsidized with BGN 1,090,472,900, and the allocation for the city's capital expenditures is set at BGN 23,457,300; the figures for Plovdiv are, respectively, BGN 344,978,000 and BGN 5,364,100; for Varna, BGN 309,880,700 and BGN 5,791,100; for Burgas, BGN 227,068,800 and BGN 4,072,100; for Ruse, BGN 137,214 and BGN 3,457,400; and for Stara Zagora, BGN 147,199,800 and almost BGN 6 million.