August 24 (BTA) - The Finance Ministry is planning the budget deficit to drop to 3 per cent in 2022 and 2.3 per cent in 2023. Caretaker Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said that after the upcoming budget revision, the budget deficit in 2021 will be 3.6 per cent.

The draft budget for 2022 plans reserves of 3.3 billion leva for additional policies and contingency expenditures, said Vassilev. The draft budget of the Road Infrastructure Agency will increase by 900 million leva in 2022.

The mulled pension rise will not cause a deficit increase and a deviation from the Maastricht criteria for financial stability, Vassilev told the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee, which approved on first reading a revision of the public social insurance budget for 2021. ZH/DD