BSP MP Natalia Kiselova elected speaker, breaking month of deadlock in Parliament
More than a month after the convening of the 51st Parliament and after ten unsuccessful attempts, the MPs managed to elect a speaker of the National Assembly. This is lawyer and constitutional law expert Prof. Natalia Kiselova from the quota of the socialist BSP party. She headed the legislative body with the support of MPs from her party, GERB, WCC-DB and Ahmed Dogan's MRF splinter faction, ARF.
Kiselova's candidacy received the support of WCC-DB after the socialists signed on Thursday (5 December) the declaration for a so-called sanitary cordon around the MP Delyan Peevski, sanctioned for corruption by the US and the UK. It was Peevski's MRF-New Beginning and the radicals from Vazrazhdane who opposed Kiselova's selection.
In her first speech as a speaker, Kiselova thanked supporters and said that she hoped the country would return to a normal course of governance. She is now eligible to become the next caretaker PM in the likely case that no governing majority is brokered by the parties.
Faster GDP growth and slower wage increase in the Ministry of Finance's annual forecast
The Ministry of Finance published its autumn macroeconomic forecast on Friday. It shows that the economy is expected to expand by 2.8% next year, following growth of 2.2% this year. Accelerated growth will come thanks to higher public spending, while private consumption will slow. Wage growth next year will slow to 9.1% compared to 14.3% this year, the forecast said. With the minimum wage rising from early 2025 and public sector pay rises already planned for next year, the state will effectively be driving income growth.
According to the forecast, Bulgaria's GDP in 2025 will exceed 215 billion ;evs from nearly 201.5 billion levs this year. In practice, this means that if the state wants to achieve a deficit of up to 3% of GDP, it will have to plan the budget so that spending does not exceed revenues by more than 6.5 billion levs. Also, if the nominal growth of the economy this year was 8.8%, next year it is expected to be 6.8%, as inflation is also slowing down, meaning there will be less room in the budget to increase spending than in the last 2-3 years.
Maximum Social Security Income 2025 may go up by 380 levs: Caretaker gov't
After adopting the decree for increasing the minimum wage by 15% to 1,077 levs next year, the caretaker cabinet announced a plan to raise the maximum social security income. The amount, which was discussed at a meeting between the Ministry of Finance and representatives of trade unions and employers, is 380 levs. Thus, from next year the threshold will become 4130 levs, or an increase of 10%. The final decision will be rolled out next week. If adopted, this measure will affect about 150-160,000 people whose taxable monthly income is over 3,750 levs.
If the proposal to increase the maximum insurable income to 4130 levs is voted by the parliament, the total cost of insurance for high earners will rise by 124 levs per month from next year. National insurance income is the amount from which contributions to the state are calculated and deducted. The maximum social security contribution, on the other hand, is the threshold above which money is not subject to social security contributions.
BSP MP Natalia Kiselova elected speaker, breaking month of deadlock in Parliament
More than a month after the convening of the 51st Parliament and after ten unsuccessful attempts, the MPs managed to elect a speaker of the National Assembly. This is lawyer and constitutional law expert Prof. Natalia Kiselova from the quota of the socialist BSP party. She headed the legislative body with the support of MPs from her party, GERB, WCC-DB and Ahmed Dogan's MRF splinter faction, ARF.
