The members of the Parliamentary Committee on Financing and Budget will continue the amendment debate on the rebalancing of the budget for this year today. According to the Rules of Procedure, the amendment debate lasts ten days and is expected to end today.

The debate on the rebalancing of the Budget for 2022 began on June 13. The rebalancing of the state treasury, as explained by the Minister of Finance Fatmir Besimi, has two goals - to maintain stability and to support the economy and citizens.

With the rebalancing of the Budget, the total revenues are planned at the level of 245,8 billion denars and are about 6,9 billion denars or 2,9 percent higher than the initial projections of the Budget. The amount of the total expenses is 288,5 billion denars or about 161,1 billion denars (5,9 percent) more than the initial projections with the plan for 2022. Capital expenditures are planned at the level of 32,2 billion denars and are about six billion denars lower compared to the plan for 2022, but the government announces that the projects for the construction of roads, railways, gas pipelines will continue...

Economic growth is projected at 3,2 percent, which is a decrease of 1,4 percentage points compared to the macroeconomic projections when the Budget was created, and the inflation rate is projected at 7,2 percent. The deficit is planned at the level of Denar 42,7 billion, ie 5,3 percent of GDP, which is 9,1 percent more than the initial budget. The deficit and the repayment of the external and domestic debt, as it was pointed out at the presentation of the supplementary budget, will be financed through borrowing from the international and domestic market.

The supplementary budget envisages about 70 million euros for anti-crisis measures, which, as announced by government officials in the past, will be targeted at those who need them most.

For the deputies from the government, the rebalancing enables the continuation of the current measures and policies for dealing with the consequences of the world economic crisis. The position of the opposition is that this rebalancing is direct proof that the country is on the verge of bankruptcy, economically destroyed, robbed, in which poverty is increasing on a daily basis.

MPs from VMRO-DPMNE emphasized that the state has never had a higher rate of public debt and that we have the highest inflation in the last 20 years, a huge lack of domestic electricity production, the lowest economic growth in the region, but also, as they emphasized, the most corrupt government that in five years it managed to destroy all the institutional capacity that was created in the past.

For the MPs from SDSM, on the other hand, through this rebalancing with a responsible approach, serious funds are being saved that will be used for direct assistance to the citizens and the economy. Cuts are being made wherever possible in order to replace the price shocks that are occurring all over the world. .

The members of the Parliamentary Commission reviewed 50 amendments yesterday, but none was accepted. The amendments mostly related to agriculture, hydro systems, sewage and communal networks.

A total of 204 amendments were submitted, of which over 170 came from the parliamentary group of VMRO-DPMNE, 28 from the Alliance of Albanians and two from the parliamentary majority.

A session of the Legislative and Legal Commission is scheduled for the afternoon in the Assembly, on the agenda of which are the Proposal for amending and supplementing the Budget of the Republic of North Macedonia for 2022 and three requests for an authentic interpretation of articles from the laws on health care, on bond relations and for urban planning.

Source: MIA