Budget debate postponed till Saturday

The government will not be discussing the 2009 draft budget today after all. B92 understands that the meeting has been postponed until Saturday, as the budget has yet to be finalized. Budget debate postponed till Saturday However, because the problem over the unilateral implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement has been resolved, ministers expect the budget to be adopted on Saturday. Today's meeting, that had been scheduled to start at 16.00 CET, has been put back to midday on Saturday. Earlier, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said that the draft budget would be considered if changes were made this morning to the section about the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU. If not today, the budget will definitely be adopted by the end of the week at an emergency cabinet meeting, he added. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic is also confident that the budget will be adopted on time. According to Dinkic, an agreement has been reached with the president and prime minister that the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU should be applied within the framework of the draft budget, leaving the possibility for the budget to be adopted by Friday. “All that’s left is for the Finance Ministry to fit in everything that has resulted from discussions thus far. I think that’s just a technical matter now,” said the minister. “I think we could have a cabinet meeting this afternoon, and no later than Friday, depending on how much time the Finance Ministry needs to effect these changes,” he said. The basic priority of the 2009 budget will be the building of Corridor 10, the Fiat agreement and ensuring annual export of over EUR 1bn, as well as active employment and unemployment reduction measures in the country, said Dinkic. Djelic believes it would be very unwise for Serbia to enter the first quarter of next year on temporary financing. Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) deputy whip Radojko Obradovic said, however, that it was evident that the government was having major problems establishing a common economic policy and that temporary financing was a realistic possibility now that the legally defined time frames had expired for drafting the budget. “If we’re talking about European integration, about calling foreign investors, about increasing our credit rating, if the budget is a month and a half late, while certain media reports suggest that there’ll be no budget and that there’ll be temporary financing instead, then I ask frankly—how can temporary financing and how can a government that cannot agree over an economic policy have any credibility in the world and the state,” said Obradovic. Mladjan Dinkic (FoNet, archive)

Budget debate postponed till Saturday

However, because the problem over the unilateral implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement has been resolved, ministers expect the budget to be adopted on Saturday.

Today's meeting, that had been scheduled to start at 16.00 CET, has been put back to midday on Saturday.

Earlier, Economy Minister Mlađan Dinkić said that the draft budget would be considered if changes were made this morning to the section about the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU.

If not today, the budget will definitely be adopted by the end of the week at an emergency cabinet meeting, he added. Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić is also confident that the budget will be adopted on time.

According to Dinkić, an agreement has been reached with the president and prime minister that the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU should be applied within the framework of the draft budget, leaving the possibility for the budget to be adopted by Friday.

“All that’s left is for the Finance Ministry to fit in everything that has resulted from discussions thus far. I think that’s just a technical matter now,” said the minister.

“I think we could have a cabinet meeting this afternoon, and no later than Friday, depending on how much time the Finance Ministry needs to effect these changes,” he said.

The basic priority of the 2009 budget will be the building of Corridor 10, the Fiat agreement and ensuring annual export of over EUR 1bn, as well as active employment and unemployment reduction measures in the country, said Dinkić.

Đelić believes it would be very unwise for Serbia to enter the first quarter of next year on temporary financing.

Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) deputy whip Radojko Obradović said, however, that it was evident that the government was having major problems establishing a common economic policy and that temporary financing was a realistic possibility now that the legally defined time frames had expired for drafting the budget.

“If we’re talking about European integration, about calling foreign investors, about increasing our credit rating, if the budget is a month and a half late, while certain media reports suggest that there’ll be no budget and that there’ll be temporary financing instead, then I ask frankly—how can temporary financing and how can a government that cannot agree over an economic policy have any credibility in the world and the state,” said Obradović.