Bulgaria's budget deficit at 650M leva in January-February
2011-03-22 11:55:47
Bulgaria's budget deficit came in at 650 million leva in the first two months of 2011, Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov has said. In February alone, spending outstripped revenue by 170 million leva.
Experts from the ministry said, however, that by the end of March, when official figures for the second month of the year would be published, the gap could turn out to be 100 million leva higher than the announced figure, or 270 million leva, bringing the cumulative shortfall for January to February to 750 million leva.
Dyankov said in Parliament that Budget revenue collection was on schedule and the fact that the deficit had already swelled to one third of the country's full-year goal was not disturbing, as he expected higher revenue in the coming months, which would provide for meeting the Budget target.
Bulgaria's budget deficit stood at about 1.45 billion leva in the first two months of 2010.