The government’s commission for economic policy will discuss today the draft law on next year’s budget planned to be €10m less than 2017, ie €1.996bn, Dnevne Novine learns.
Compared to this year’s budget revision, the planned sum is lower by €17m.
Government finished consultations on the 2018 budget during the weekend. According to DN’s unofficial information, it will be discussed at the next cabinet meeting.
According to the proposed budget, the state will reduce its borrowings on domestic and foreign markets. Thus the government plans to borrow €295m, significantly less than in 2017 (€455m) and in 2016 (€655.4m).
The original budget revenues in the next year are projected at €1.70bn or 38.8% of the estimated GDP. The planned level foresees 7.8% increase in revenues compared to the plan for this year or nominally €123.2m. The growth will be achieved by VAT increase (€78.8m or 14.7%), excise duties increase (€29.9m or 13.8%), increase in contributions (€13.5m or 2.7%), and income tax increase (€2.5m or 1.9%).
The allocation for the capital budget is planned at €284m, one million more than 2017. From this sum €210m will be used for financing the Bar – Boljare highway construction.
Budget projections indicate the state will have to borrow €295m next year. From this, the state will pay debts and obligations from the previous period and finance the capital budget with €105m, while borrowings from the Chinese Exim Bank of €190m will be required for the highway.
