An audit by Bulgaria's State Audit Office could turn up spending that was never booked. If so, the 2025 budget report will have to be rewritten. Deputy prime minister and finance minister Galab Donev said this during a question-and-answer session in parliament.

"But if it turns out there are hidden costs that weren't booked in 2025, which has happened before, then the report on 2025 state budget spending will have to change," Donev said.

Parliament asked the State Audit Office to review public finances, and its final report is due by the end of October. The findings then go to the finance ministry, the National Statistical Institute and Eurostat.

If the audit finds the bookkeeping was correct, last year's report won't change, the minister said. Whatever the documents show goes into the report, he added — the audit is official, and the finance ministry has no choice but to follow it.

"If the truth is embarrassing for Bulgaria, so be it — people should know what we've been doing all these years," he said. Donev added that no one should question official institutions from the floor of parliament, since the State Audit Office works from documents. The office is an independent body that checks state finances.

The question came from Temenuzhka Petkova of GERB-SDS, a former finance minister. She pointed to findings in the report which, she said, show the budget report may need corrections after the State Audit Office's review.

Petkova recalled a hearing in the relevant parliamentary committee where regional development minister Ivan Shishkov said the State Audit Office had told him more than 1 billion levs in spending had been shifted. She said this data had been manipulated, and that GERB-SDS has proof and will report it to the authorities if needed.

The deficit in the approved 2025 budget report stands at 2.9% of GDP, after applying the exemption for defence spending.