Bulgaria Approves Pension Increase and Social Insurance Adjustments

Sofia, The Gulf Observer: The Bulgarian National Assembly has approved an 8.6% increase in pensions, effective from July 1, as part of the final vote on the State Social Insurance Act. This adjustment will raise the minimum pension to just over 630 leva (315 euros).

In addition to the pension increase, the maximum insurance threshold will be raised to 4,130 leva starting April 1, while the minimum threshold will increase from 933 to 1,077 leva, beginning January 1. However, a proposal to maintain a lower threshold for agricultural and tobacco producers was rejected.

A separate proposal that aimed to allow parents returning to work during the second year of their child’s birth or adoption to receive 100% of the benefits was also turned down. The existing policy of receiving 50% of the benefit, amounting to 780 leva for the second year, will remain unchanged.

The National Assembly upheld the regulation requiring employers to cover the first two days of sick leave. Additionally, the proposal to gradually shift the social security burden for civil servants and judiciary employees to be shared between the insurer and the insured by 2030 was also rejected, maintaining the current system where the state fully covers these contributions.

Furthermore, the proposal to raise the minimum daily unemployment benefit was not approved, leaving it unchanged at 18 leva per day, while the maximum benefit remains at 107.14 leva.

Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Borislav Gutsanov, expressed gratitude to the deputies for their decisions, stating that the adopted measures represent the “possible budget” at present. He also expressed hope that some of the rejected proposals would be reconsidered in the 2026 Budget.