Democratic Bulgaria (DB) says the government must submit a new 2027 budget with a deficit below 3% of GDP. The party made the call in an official statement after the rating agency S&P changed its outlook on Bulgaria's credit rating from positive to stable. The outlook is back where it was six months ago, when the agency raised it because of expected reforms. News of the decision came on Friday evening, when the Finance Ministry said the BBB+/A-2 rating had been confirmed. GERB called on the "Radev" cabinet to read the assessment correctly.

S&P says the steps to cut the deficit in the 2027 budget are not working. It singles out the one-off windfall profits tax, which the state expects to bring in 800m euros. DB says permanent spending cannot be paid for with one-off revenue.

On Friday S&P revised the outlook on Bulgaria's rating, and the Finance Ministry said the cause was weakened budget and external-sector indicators, taken in combination.

The agency forecasts a record budget deficit of 5.1% of GDP for 2026. It expects the current account deficit, which covers the country's payments to and from the rest of the world, to reach 8.7% of GDP, the highest in 18 years.

"The economy is overheating, spending is rising, debt is growing and we are losing competitiveness," DB writes. It calls the draft budgets for 2026 and 2027 two of the worst the cabinet has submitted. The promised reform plan remains unfulfilled, the party says, and Rumen Radev's fiscal policy, meaning the way the state raises and spends money, is now hurting the country's creditworthiness. DB says it has warned about the problem for months.

In the debate on the 2026 budget, DB made 18 proposals and the majority rejected all of them. The party wanted a deficit of 3.9bn euros, below 3% of GDP, but the adopted budget has 7.3bn euros.

By rewriting the 2027 budget, DB wants to lower the risk that the economy stops growing and falls into recession. The party believes this risk, together with the danger of a debt spiral, threatens the country in 2028.

DB wants the cabinet to stop blaming the opposition. It says the government must explain which spending that brings no results it will drop, and how it will change the administration and the interior ministry. It must also explain how it will create conditions for more investment, production and exports. "Rumen Radev's government has its own parliamentary majority. Nobody stops it from carrying out the necessary reforms," the statement says.

According to DB, the agency warns that if the budget problems are not brought under control, the next step could be a downgrade. Bulgaria's rating was last cut in 2014, when Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) collapsed.