IN RESPONSE TO THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: BUDGETARY EXPENDITURES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

In an interview for Nova TV on the 2nd of November 2016, the Minister of finance Mr. Vladislav Goranov made some strange comments about some of BIA’s proposals concerning Bulgaria’s draft budget for 2017.

According to the Minister of finance “a great part of the experts, which you quote, probably remember the state budgets from the time of Todor Jivkov”.

In response to Minister Goranov we are stating the similarities between the budgets of Todor Jivkov and the budget for 2017:

• Lack of financial decentralization;
• Management of a consolidated fiscal program, springing from the Currency Board, which involves the national budget, the budgets of the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), resources from the EU and the fiscal reserve;
• Analogical basic structure of first level spending units and expenditures;
• Formal budget planning for first and second level spending units in terms of aims, expected results and indicators for effectiveness and efficiency;
• Lack of relation between the previously adopted budgetary aims, results, indicators and expenses and the Program Declaration of the parliamentary majority, as well as the Government’s program.  

In terms of the data about costs of crime solving, quoted from BIA’s position, the following was said: “I think that those statistics are unrealistic - if we compare the budgets of the Ministry of Interior between 2010 and 2016 we could spot an increase, which is not as high as it’s claimed.”

There is а difference between “overall budget augmentation” and “effectiveness and efficiency of budget expenses.” In this case, the BIA presents calculations in terms of effectiveness and efficiency as follows:

• In 2010 for one solved crime from the budget were spent BGN 2350 and in 2015 – BGN 4200, in other words – two times more;
• For disclosure of BGN 1 damages from economic crimes in 2010 the expenses were BGN 3, but in 2015 – BGN 29.

Those calculations are based on data from the official statistics of the Ministry of Interior and the reports on budget implementation of the Ministry of Interior.