Government sends 2013 budget revision bill to Parliament

The Croatian government sent the 2013 budget revision bill to Parliament on Thursday, reducing revenues by HRK 2.9 billion to 110.25 billion and increasing expenditures by HRK 3.2 billion to 126.8 billion.

The deficit thus increased by HRK 6 billion, from 10.24 billion to 16.3 billion, accounting for 4.8% of GDP.

The government also revised down its growth projection to 0.2% this year. Some institutions had forecasted a continued contraction, ranging from -0.2% to -0.7%.

The government was also expected today to send to Parliament the proposed budget bill for 2014 with projections for 2015 and 2016.

Explaining the proposed revision of this year's budget, Finance Minister Slavko Linic said that the decline in revenues was due to lower revenues from VAT and customs as a result of accession to the European Union on July 1. The expenditure side was increased by HRK 3.3 billion to cover the debts of health institutions and due to pension indexation and an increase in social transfers.

The government has managed to keep the expenditure side under control, not including the rehabilitation of the health services, Linic said.

The state budget deficit for this year was increased to 4.8% of GDP, while the total government deficit, including the state budget and extrabudgetary expenses, rose to 5.5% of GDP.

(Hina)



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