Budget revision envisages 32 billion dinar surplus
Serbian Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic has said that the government has adopted the Bill on changes and amendments on the Law on the Serbian Budget for 2005, approving a budget revision that envisages a surplus of 32 billion dinars.
At a press conference following the session today, members of the government offered their condolences to the families of those killed in terrorist attacks in London and they strongly condemned the attacks that hit Great Britain’s capital this morning.
Speaking about the budget revision, which is to be discussed in parliament this month, Dinkic recalled that the 2005 Budget envisions receipts of 396 billion dinars and outlays of 416.6 billion.
According to him, the proposed revision is a consequence of the launch of value added tax on January 1 and the need to make additional fiscal adjustments by cutting public spending in order to reduce the foreign trade deficit.
The bill will raise the projected 2005 budgetary revenues to 433 billion dinars and reduce the outlays to 401 billion dinars, which will create a surplus of 32 billion dinars, he explained.
Minister of Energy and Mining Radomir Naumov said that the government adopted documents to establish three new companies in the oil and gas industry, wrapping up the cycle of adjustments of the energy sector to an emerging regional energy community.
The three newly founded companies, which emerged from the reorganized state oil and gas company NIS, are Naftna Industrija Srbije, which will explore for and produce oil and gas and sell oil products; Trans-Nafta, which will be in charge of transporting oil; and Srbija-Gas, which will transport, store, distribute, and sell natural gas.
Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo said that the government also adopted a decree regulating the methods of settling liabilities to creditors of companies undergoing the process of selling-off state equity.
According to Bubalo, this is the final document concerning the changes to the Law on privatisation and it will help to speed up the privatisation of the most indebted companies.