Finance Minister Radunović: Budget revision of EUR 9.5 million is result of good work of Government; resources go where they are most needed

Podgorica, Montenegro (7 December 2017) -- At today's Cabinet session, the Government adopted Draft Law on Amendments to the Budget Law of Montenegro for 2017, which allocated an extra EUR 9.5 million to subsidise “vulnerable customers” of the electrical energy, civil aviation and others, due to better revenue collection in the past year.

Finance Minister Darko Radunović said that serious and dedicated work on establishing stability and sustainability of the public finance system marked the activities of the Government and the Ministry of Finance in the previous year.

“I can say with great pleasure that our efforts have led to results that we can be proud of. The Government worked well, more money was invested in the state treasury, and less was taken from it than it was in the previous period. This gave us the opportunity to send additional resources at the end of the year where it is most needed. For the first 11 months, we earned about EUR 64 million more than in the same period last year. We expect revenues to be about EUR 30 million higher by the end of the year compared to the plan, or close to EUR 90 million higher compared to last year. According to projections, expenditures will be reduced by around 50 million by the end of the year compared to last year. And what we consider most important: the deficit will be 2.7% lower than the projections from the Fiscal Strategy and will amount to 3.7% of GDP by the end of the year,” Minister Radunović said.

He added that these facts created conditions for the Government to make a decision on the budget revision in the amount of EUR 9.5 million.

In accordance with the Law that was sent to the Parliament for adoption under the shortened procedure, the funds are allocated for:

- The Ministry of Economy in the amount of EUR 1 million – for subsidies for the production and provision of services related to the subsidisation of “vulnerable customers” of the electrical energy;

- Current budget reserve in the amount of EUR 490,000.00;

- The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs in the amount of EUR 7,117,807.03 as follows:

* EUR 5,200,000.00 for the Civil Aviation Programme;

* EUR 1,917,807.03 for Railway Transport of Montenegro JSC – Podgorica and Railway Infrastructure of Montenegro;

* EUR 893,601.47 for Employment Agency of Montenegro.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO