Three audits by the National Audit Office show reckless management of public finances, with no accountability, Konstantin Prodanov, chair of the budget and finance committee, said at a Progressive Bulgaria briefing in parliament. The audits covered the finance ministry, the Road Infrastructure Agency and the state social security system from the start of 2020 to the end of May 2026.
The National Audit Office said yesterday that the Road Infrastructure Agency had signed contracts worth €9.20bn against a budget of €5.62bn.
The previous development: Audit office: road agency signed contracts worth €9.2bn against a €5.6bn budget
Stefan Belchev, chair of the economic policy, investment and industry committee in the National Assembly, also attended the briefing.
The worst of it is that Bulgaria has been put under the excessive deficit procedure for the first time, with all the negative effects that brings, Prodanov said.
The reports show that populism and short-term election calculations won out, and nobody asked who would pay or whether it could last, he said. The result is worse public services, sharply rising debt and wealth that exists only on paper.
"In the last few years we have lived on borrowed money. These are loans that our children will pay, but we did not know about it," Prodanov said.
Those who boast of rising incomes keep quiet about the fact that much of Bulgarians' wellbeing depends on their savings, the committee chair explained. These have been badly eroded by the "inflation tax", he said.
"Right now all of us are the ones who suffer," he added.