Balgarianovinite.com Bulgaria’s public debt, allocated per household, stands at an average of BGN 21,905 as of the end of 2025. Projections indicate that this figure will increase by around 50% in 2026, surpassing BGN 30,000, economists Stoyan Panchev and Max Baklayan said at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia on Monday. They presented a new digital tool for analyzing and visualising public debt.
The debt calculator, called Value Keeper, available at https://app.valuekeeper.bg/, shows in real time both the nominal size of Bulgaria’s public debt and its ratio to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to the application, public debt currently amounts to BGN 62.7 billion, or 28.43% of GDP.
The economists warned that the rapid increase in public debt carries a risk of a higher tax burden in Bulgaria.
According to Panchev, Bulgaria’s public debt has been growing at a rate of BGN 83 per second by the end of 2025. Based on the tool’s calculations, to repay the public debt each Bulgarian household would currently need to pay BGN 21,905. This amount is expected to rise by about 50% in 2026 if the Ministry of Finance’s projections for taking on new debt materialize. Max Baklayan explained that as a result, public debt per household would increase to an average of BGN 31,383, while the pace of debt accumulation would jump sevenfold to EUR 280 per second.
Baklayan stressed that this debt is ultimately repaid by all citizens through taxes and social security contributions, and that rising public debt implies an increase in the tax burden – something the International Monetary Fund has already recommended to Bulgaria’s authorities.
“The International Monetary Fund has on several occasions recommended that our government review the flat tax, meaning a gradual increase in tax rates. Social security contributions have already risen by 2%, and the maximum insurable income, as we know, will continue to increase each year, including again in 2026. In other words, we are in a process of raising taxes on the population in order to service this debt, because there are only two ways to repay debt – taxes and inflation,” Baklayan said.
He also pointed out that as a result of joining the eurozone, Bulgaria will move from a currency board system, under which the money supply is legally backed, to a fiat monetary system. According to him, this will increase the country’s access to borrowing, potentially accelerating the pace of indebtedness.
Stoyan Panchev added that precisely because of this change in how the monetary system operates, many countries that have joined the eurozone have seen an increase in public debt. He argued that Bulgaria must maintain a low level of indebtedness to avoid raising taxes and to improve the competitiveness of its economy.
“It is crucial for the health of an economy, especially a small, open one like Bulgaria’s, to maintain low levels of debt. First, so that the economy can produce rather than repay money that has already been spent, and second, to keep the tax burden relatively low. It is no coincidence that the budget brought down by the protests included proposed increases in pension contributions and dividend taxes. This is because over the past three years we have accumulated significant hidden deficits in the budget,” Panchev said.
“These hidden deficits have to be financed, and logically the authorities start raising taxes. Unfortunately, this is an expected move given the widening of these deficits. If we want lower taxes and a more competitive economy, we need to focus attention on the debt burden and open a discussion on how it will evolve after eurozone accession,” he added.
The economists argued that public debt in itself is not necessarily a negative thing if it is invested in boosting the economy’s competitiveness. However, they stressed that after joining the eurozone Bulgaria will need to maintain strict fiscal discipline to avoid a rapid increase in indebtedness. Bulgaria’s Public Debt per Household to Exceed BGN 30,000 in 2026, Economists Forecast 2025 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-12-29 14:48:31 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law