Bulgaria’s Caretaker Government offers the minimum Wage to become BGN 710

We propose to introduce in the next budget an increase in the minimum wage and it will become BGN 710, said today in the Council of Ministers the Minister of Finance Valeri Belchev.

Over 750 thousand people in our country work on the minimum wage. They now receive BGN 650, which, according to Belchev, are extremely insufficient to support a household.

Every citizen with an income of up to BGN 510 will be entitled to child benefits, which will increase by 20 percent, Belchev said. According to him, this is a serious increase that will affect 20 thousand children in Bulgaria.

We are significantly increasing the maternity allowances for children up to two years of age, as they increase from BGN 380 to BGN 650, Belchev also announced.

With regard to pensions, we intend to propose, even after the abolition of covid measures, that the absolute value of income for retirees be at least maintained at current levels, he added.

This would mean an average increase in the pension of each pensioner by BGN 84, the minister informed. He also said that the government proposes to keep the supplement to the pensions of BGN 120 in the next six months.

I very much insist that the budget for 2022 be adopted within this year. Although some of the political forces prefer to slow down the process and leave the payment of the budget to a regular government, we are obliged to comply with the law and protect the country from risks, said the caretaker Minister of Finance Valeri Belchev.

Belchev announced that the basic scenario of the budget for next year has already been prepared. An interdepartmental procedure for calculating budget revenues and expenditures is underway this week, which...