The bonus Christmas pension for all pensioners in Bulgaria would most probably be 100 leva (50 euro), instead of 50 leva (25 euro), as previously announced, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said on November 30 2007.

The bonus pension would cost the country 230 million leva.

At a meeting of Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski and Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova and Stanishev, it became clear that the bonus could be paid from the budget surplus, mediapool.bg said.

More than 2.2 million pensioners were to receive the bonus pension in December, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) said.

On November 29, Parliament allowed Cabinet to spend 900 million leva from the budget surplus. The Cabinet could spend another 300 million leva without Parliament’s approval. Thus Cabinet had an unprecedented 1.2 billion leva at its disposal, mediapool.bg said.

The opposition Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) proposed to Parliament that the sum would be allocated for bonus pension and a bonus salary for state employees, but the proposal was rejected.