Budget ready for debate on Saturday

The 2009 budget has been finalized and will be discussed at tomorrow’s cabinet session. If adopted, parliament may debate it on December 11. Budget ready for debate on Saturday After the draft budget is adopted by the government, it will be sent on for parliamentary procedure. Speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic said that the budget debate could be included on the parliamentary agenda at the session scheduled for December 11. The government had been due to discuss the 2009 budget on Thursday, but the session was postponed until Saturday, because the ministries had to finalize the distribution of funds, and because the draft budget had not been reviewed by all the government’s committees. Earlier, National Investment Plan Minister Verica Kalanovic told B92 that the budget had to stay restrictive, but that her ministry would not be pulling out of key development projects. One of the problems that have led to the delay in the budget’s adoption, according to Kalanovic, was the envisioned deficit of 1.5 percent, and the fact that ministers’ plans were overly-ambitious, given the current economic climate. “The budget must be balanced, in order to minimize spending. Expenditure cannot exceed 1.5 percent GDP,” she stressed. The plan to unilaterally implement the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU will go ahead, even though it will mean a EUR 250mn loss in customs revenue. The minister said that it was important to take care of social responsibility. “There’ll be a lot of people with meager pay packets, not just meager pensions. My view is that social responsibility should cover, besides pensioners, workers in a difficult predicament. That’s why [Economy] Minister Mladjan Dinkic has proposed increasing the level of non-taxable income, which will undoubtedly improve matters for the most at-risk sections of the working population,” she said. Kalanovic said that the construction of Corridor 10 and investment in under-developed regions would not be called into question. Nor, the minister said, would projects linked to the Pancevo or Obrenovac bridges be put in jeopardy. Verica Kalanovic (FoNet, archive)

Budget ready for debate on Saturday

After the draft budget is adopted by the government, it will be sent on for parliamentary procedure. Speaker Slavica Đukić Dejanović said that the budget debate could be included on the parliamentary agenda at the session scheduled for December 11.

The government had been due to discuss the 2009 budget on Thursday, but the session was postponed until Saturday, because the ministries had to finalize the distribution of funds, and because the draft budget had not been reviewed by all the government’s committees.

Earlier, National Investment Plan Minister Verica Kalanović told B92 that the budget had to stay restrictive, but that her ministry would not be pulling out of key development projects.

One of the problems that have led to the delay in the budget’s adoption, according to Kalanović, was the envisioned deficit of 1.5 percent, and the fact that ministers’ plans were overly-ambitious, given the current economic climate.

“The budget must be balanced, in order to minimize spending. Expenditure cannot exceed 1.5 percent GDP,” she stressed.

The plan to unilaterally implement the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU will go ahead, even though it will mean a EUR 250mn loss in customs revenue.

The minister said that it was important to take care of social responsibility.

“There’ll be a lot of people with meager pay packets, not just meager pensions. My view is that social responsibility should cover, besides pensioners, workers in a difficult predicament. That’s why [Economy] Minister Mlađan Dinkić has proposed increasing the level of non-taxable income, which will undoubtedly improve matters for the most at-risk sections of the working population,” she said.

Kalanović said that the construction of Corridor 10 and investment in under-developed regions would not be called into question.

Nor, the minister said, would projects linked to the Pančevo or Obrenovac bridges be put in jeopardy.