site.btaParliament Passes Conclusively 2016 State Budget Framework

Parliament Passes Conclusively 2016 State Budget Framework

Sofia, December 2 (BTA) - At an extraordinary sitting that went into the small hours of Wednesday, Bulgaria's Parliament passed conclusively the framework of the 2016 State budget.

The total amount of revenues, grants and donations is planned at 20,623,591,500 leva. Of these, corporation tax accounts for 1,734,500,000 leva, income taxes on natural persons for 2,830,000,000 leva, value added tax for 8,409,600,000 leva, and excise duties for 4,670,000 000 leva.

Expenditures are planned to total 10,946,208,600 leva. Of these, current expenditures amount to 8,332,042,600 leva, capital expenditures to 2,511,887,900 leva, and the reserve for contingent and/or urgent expenditures to 71,100,000 leva, including 70,000,000 leva for the prevention, management and mitigation of the effects of disasters.

The total amount of budget relationships (transfers) is expected at 10,455,193,200 leva. Of these, 2,662,137,000 leva will go to municipalities, 5,065,887,100 leva for public social insurance, 1,069,199,000 leva to the National Heath Insurance Fund, 42,112,000 leva to the Bulgarian National Radio, 65,147,000 leva to the Bulgarian National Television, 4,385,000 leva to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), 407,415,300 leva to the State higher schools, and 75,837,000 leva to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Under the framework, the contribution to the EU general budget is to be 1,009,743,800 leva.

The budget deficit will amount to 1,787,554,100.

The MPs voted down motions to allocate more money for municipalities and the State higher schools and for welfare expenditures. BSP-Left Bulgaria also moved for a nearly 240 million leva cut of the transfer to the National Social Security Institute, to be offset by higher contributions from higher income earners.

Also on Tuesday, Parliament passed conclusively the 2016 judiciary budget. Next year the judiciary can rely on revenues, grants and donations totalling 140 million leva, of which 120 million leva are to come from court fees. The expenditures are set at 518 million leva, including 8.5 million leva capital expenditures. Transfers from the central government budget amount to 378 million leva.

The legislature also approved conclusively the budgets of the National Assembly, the Bulgarian National Audit Office, the Council of Ministers and the Administration of the President.

The revenues, grants and donations planned for the National Assembly amount to 1,480,000 leva, and the non-tax revenues at 1,480,000 leva. The expenditures are estimated at 53,400,000 leva. The maximum amounts of spending commitments and the new liabilities for expenditures may be increased by up to 20 per cent by a resolution of Parliament, the MPs resolved.

The revenues, grants and donations budgeted for the Bulgarian National Audit Office in 2016 total 150,000 leva, and the expenditures 15,307,000 leva. The Administration of the President was authorized to spend 6,050,000 leva next year. The Council of Ministers is expected to receive revenues, grants and donations totalling 17,200,000 leva and to spend 82,800,000 leva.

The National Assembly continues the second-reading debate and vote of the 2016 State Budget Bill on Wednesday.