Author: Dr. Ilko Semerdzhiev
Overview of Bulgaria’s GDP for the Period 2005–2025
Due to the constant manipulation by Boyko Borissov—especially regarding verifiable facts related to the country’s economy—I took the trouble to review the official reports on the execution of the State Budget (the Consolidated Fiscal Program) for the period 2005–2024.
First, the use of 2005 to calculate GERB’s contribution is misleading and, in essence, represents a public deception.
Why? Because in that year Borissov only became Mayor of Sofia, and his so-called “contribution” to GDP actually amounts to appropriating the results of the government of Sergey Stanishev, whose mandate began on 17 August 2005 and lasted until 27 July 2009. That government left the country with a GDP of BGN 73.181 billion, or EUR 37.417 billion.
Borissov’s first government had a mandate from 27 July 2009 to 13 March 2013, with the following indicators:
- 2010 – GDP of BGN 74.888 billion;
- 2011 – GDP of BGN 81.126 billion;
- 2012 – GDP of BGN 82.643 billion.
On average, this amounts to 3% annual GDP growth.
Borissov’s second government had a mandate from 7 November 2014 to 27 January 2017, with the following indicators:
- 2015 – GDP of BGN 89.571 billion;
- 2016 – GDP of BGN 95.349 billion.
Again, the average annual GDP growth was 3%.
Note:
It turns out that the government of Plamen Oresharski and the caretaker governments of Marin Raykov and Georgi Bliznashki, over two years (2013 and 2014), generated GDP growth of BGN 26.883 billion, while Borissov, over the three years of his first mandate, achieved an increase of only BGN 7.755 billion.
Borissov’s third government had the following indicators:
- 2017 – GDP of BGN 102.683 billion;
- 2018 – GDP of BGN 109.526 billion;
- 2019 – GDP of BGN 119.686 billion;
- 2020 – GDP of BGN 120.979 billion.
The average annual GDP growth was 3.7%.
In the period 2021–2024, six caretaker governments alternated, along with the governments of Kiril Petkov and Nikolai Denkov, with the following indicators:
- 2021 – GDP of BGN 139.537 billion;
- 2022 – GDP of BGN 168.354 billion;
- 2023 – GDP of BGN 184.875 billion;
- 2024 – GDP of BGN 204.907 billion.
On average, this represents 8% annual GDP growth.
2025 – GDP of EUR 112.903 billion, or BGN 220.819 billion—only BGN 15.9 billion more than in 2024, and entirely accumulated through debt, which exceeds the reported growth.
Conclusion:
Borissov has no grounds whatsoever to claim Bulgaria’s economic growth as his own. On the contrary, the contribution of his governments from 2010 amounted to an increase from BGN 75 billion to BGN 120 billion by 2020, and if we subtract the BGN 27 billion growth achieved by the governments of Oresharski, Raykov, and Bliznashki, what remains is a mere BGN 18 billion increase for the period 2010–2020.
The increase from 2021 to 2024 amounts to BGN 65.370 billion.
Recapitulation:
- Over 11 years, from 2010 to 2020 inclusive, Borissov’s governments increased GDP by BGN 18 billion;
- The subsequent governments, from 2021 to 2024 inclusive, increased GDP by BGN 65 billion in just 4 years.
Boyko Borissov’s boasts are unfounded.