Bulgaria will try to bring its 2027 budget deficit as close as possible to 3% of GDP so it can exit the EU's excessive deficit procedure. Deputy prime minister and finance minister Galab Donev said this on BNT.

The finance ministry's three-year forecast puts the 2027 deficit at 3.8% of GDP. It is now looking for new sources of revenue and cutting spending to bring the budget closer to that target. "Our goal is to bring that 3.8% deficit as close as we can to the 3% limit," Donev said on the show "The Day Starts with Georgi Lyubenov".

The deficit is the gap between what the state collects and what it spends. As long as it stays above 3% of GDP, Bulgaria remains under the excessive deficit procedure, which Donev called a heavy burden on the country. That's why the government is working on ways to cut the deficit and raise revenue with a lasting effect, he said.

If Bulgaria doesn't act on its own, the European Commission could force spending cuts and push the deficit back down near 3%, Donev added. The procedure ends once the deficit falls to 3% of GDP.