MINSK, 18 December (BelTA) – The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus gave the first reading to the bill on the next year's central state budget on 18 December, BelTA has learned.
The budget revenues in 2019 are projected in the amount of Br23.6 billion or up 0.8% over 2018, First Deputy Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov said. The main sources are VAT, excises, tax revenue from economic activity. Expenses are forecast at Br21,900 billion or up 5.1% from 2018. Surplus will amount to Br1.7 billion.
In 2017 the budget will retain its social focus. The priority areas for financing are healthcare and education. The draft budget provides for the family capital in the amount of Br343.2 million. A significant portion of the budget will be spent to finance wages, pensions, scholarships, grants, other payments.
The national road fund is expected to receive almost Br700 million, up 10% as against 2018. Half of the revenues from government fees, or Br145 million, will be transferred from the fund to local budgets in the form of subventions.
To make sure residential construction keeps pace in 2019 at the current level of 4 million square meters (including 1.06 million square meters subsidized by the government) some Br590 million has been budgeted to finance infrastructure. The priority is to provide at least 12,000 large families with home.
Some Br284 million will be injected into science and technology in 2019, up 12.7% from the 2018 target.
Next year, Belarus will need to repay Br5.8 billion of debts, including 96% (the equivalent to $2.5 billion) in foreign currency. About Br3 billion, up 25.8% than in 2018, will be used to service the public debt.
According to the first deputy minister, there are plans to use Br2.8 billion of non-debt sources to repay part of the public debt, including about $627 million in export customs duties on oil products, $523 million in revenues as part of the bilateral oil deal with Russia, and about Br213 million in budget surplus balance to repay debt in the national currency.
Belarus plans to raise $1.4 billion to refinance its debt. The country will need additional $517 million to prevent the level of international reserve assets from falling below the two-month import volume.
Issuing government bonds worth $370 million in the domestic financial market and borrowing about $1.5 billion are viewed as potential instruments to attract untied credit resources. The government is looking to attract a loan of about $1 billion from the Russian Federation to refinance its debt obligations. The country is also actively working to enter the financial markets of Russia and China.
“With the implementation of the abovementioned measures, the public debt will make up Br55.1 billion by the end of 2019. This will be 41.6% of GDP with the debt-to-GDP threshold at 45%,” the first deputy minister said.
