Bulgaria’s ruling party intends to present legal changes that would raise the state’s borrowing limit by €3.8 billion this year, with the additional funds earmarked mainly for initiatives under the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, Konstantin Prodanov, the head of parliament’s budget committee, said.
Prodanov spoke to reporters in Sofia on Monday and explained the need for the supplementary borrowing ahead of the scheduled parliamentary approval of the 2026 budget in early August. That approval has been pushed back due to the country’s political crisis, he said, creating a timing constraint that the government aims to address through the proposed amendments.
The budget committee chief highlighted that international market conditions are currently favourable for borrowing, but he warned that it is uncertain how long those conditions will continue. Prodanov did not provide details on the share of the planned increase that would be financed through international bond sales, leaving the split between domestic and international funding unspecified.
Under the existing bill that extends the 2025 budget into 2026, new borrowing is capped at roughly €1.4 billion. Prodanov noted that this amount has already been locked in on the local market to cover debt that is coming due. The proposed amendment would therefore raise the overall borrowing capacity by an additional €3.8 billion to meet planned expenditures associated with EU recovery projects.
Key context points from Prodanov’s remarks:
- The additional borrowing is intended primarily for projects under the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan.
- The move is timed to precede approval of the 2026 budget in early August following delays tied to a political crisis.
- International markets are described as favourable at present, but the duration of those conditions is unclear.
The details offered by the budget committee head are limited to the figures and timing cited above. He did not specify the proportion of financing expected from foreign bond markets, nor did he provide further breakdowns of project-level allocations beyond the general reference to the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan. The current legal framework that carries the 2025 budget forward into 2026 restricts additional borrowing to about €1.4 billion, an amount Prodanov said has already been secured locally to meet maturing obligations.