site.btaParliament Adopts Ministries' 2019 Budgets

November 29 (BTA) - MPs adopted here late on Wednesday
evening the different ministries' budgets for next year after
voting texts of the 2019 State Budget Act.

-- The Finance Ministry's expenditures are set at 521,211,000
leva.

-- The Foreign Ministry's expenditures are set at 132,669,600
leva. A total of 110,295,500 leva are for policies related to
the development of effective diplomatic service, 853,200 leva
are for policies in the field of public diplomacy, and
21,520,900 leva are for policies in the field of active
bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

-- The Labour and Social Policy Ministry's total expenditures
are set at 1,364,993,900 leva. A total of 106,473,100 leva are
for employment policies, 198,827,900 leva for social protection
and equal opportunities, and 597,988,700 leva for social
inclusion policies.

-- The Defence Ministry's expenditures are set at 1,414,211,000
leva, of which 995,922,300 leva are for personnel, 2,828,000
leva for subsidies and other current transfers, 1,060,000 leva
for current transfers, compensations and assistance for
households, 103,397,700 leva for the acquisition of long-term
assets and repairs. A total of 1,331,231,000 leva are set for
policies in the field of defence capabilities, 82,980,000 leva
are set for policies in the field of allied and international
security, 7,490,000 leva are set for the G. S. Rakovski National
 Defence College, 14,754,100 leva for the Vassil Levski National
 Military University, and 5,854,000 leva for the Nikola
Vaptsarov Naval Academy.

-- The Interior Ministry's expenditures are set at 1,514,790,200
 leva, of which 1,377,853,200 are for personnel, and 14,947,000
for the acquisition of long-term assets and repairs. A total of
877,714,000 leva are set for policies in the field of
crime-prevention and maintaining public order, 212,048,000 leva
are set for policies related to border protection and control of
 the migration processes, 257,810,000 leva are set for policies
in the field of fire safety and civil protection during
emergency situations, while 167,218,200 leva are set for
policies aimed at managing and developing the Interior
Ministry's system.

-- The Health Ministry's expenditures are set at 548,575,900
leva for next year. The planned transfers from the central
budget to the Health Ministry's budget add up to 554,075,900
leva, of which the transfers provided tot he National Health
Insurance Fund are 43,000,000 leva. A total of 101,125,000 leva
are set for public health promotion, disease control and
prevention, 392,658,500 leva for medicines and 34,397,800 leva
for medical products. 19,900,000 leva will go for capital
expenditure.

-- In the budget of the Energy Ministry, revenues and grants
total 155,299,900 leva and expenditures 84,737,400 leva. 800,000
 leva will be spent for acquisition of long-term assets and
overhauls to equipment.

-- In the budget of the Environment and Water Ministry, the
revenues total
51,978,500 leva and the expenditures 52,627,100 leva.

-- In the Economy Ministry budget, revenues and grants total
26,090,000 leva and expenditures 84,233,500 leva.

-- in the Tourism Ministry, the revenues are set at 9,823,800
leva and expenditures at 19,352,800 leva.

-- The Education and Science Ministry has a budget with
expenditures for a total of 664,974,600 leva of which
372,573,100 leva will go for personnel costs, 11,148,200 leva
for acquisition of fixed assets and repairs. The budget for
coverage, equal access to education and lifelong learning is
578,388,600 leva; for equal access to higher education and
development of the research potential 80,448,700 leva; for the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and higher schools 551,397,900
leva.

-- The Culture Ministry gets expenditures for a total of
194,396,200 leva, including 115,649,100 leva for personnel
costs, 7,654,700 leva for acquisition of fixed assets and repair
 of facilities, 20,888,800 leva for protection of movable and
immovable cultural heritage and 168,345,700 leva for encouraging
 and popularizing contemporary art at home and abroad.

-- In the budget of the Regional Development and Public Works
Ministry, the revenues and grants total 306,558,100 leva and
expenditures 516,693,600 leva. They will mostly be spent for
policies for development of the regions and improving the living
 environment.

The Left attacked the government for failing to provide targeted
 financing for development of the Northwestern Region, which the
 poorest in Bulgaria and in Europe.

-- The Agriculture and Foods Ministry gets expenditures of
192,884,000 leva. The budget for policies in the area of
agriculture and rural areas is 137,878,000 leva, for policies in
 fisheries and aquacultures 5,703,000 leva, for protecting and
increasing the forests and game population 26,975,000 leva.

MPs of all groups moved for increasing the Ministry's budget but
 the majority did not support that.

-- The Ministry of Transport, IT and Communications has in its
budget expenditures of 267,226,300 leva. Of it 175,000,000 leva
goes to the passenger train operation of the Bulgarian State
Railways (BDZ) and 21,449,000 leva for Bulgarian posts.

The Socialists and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms moved
for increasing the subsidy for BDZ but the majority voted down
the motion. RY/LN/MY