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Economy
20 August 2019, 18:32

Draft public finance management program discussed by Belarus' Council of Ministers

MINSK, 20 August (BelTA) – Reducing state debt and improving approaches to budget appropriations will be goals of the new state program on public finance management and financial market regulation for 2019-2020 and through 2025. The draft program was on the agenda of a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers on 20 August, BelTA has learned.

“The main goal we have set regarding the state debt is to prevent it from increasing. We are preparing a number of activities to systematically reduce the state debt. We do not plan a rapid reduction, because this should be a gradual process,” Belarus' First Deputy Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov told journalists.

Yuri Seliverstov did not reveal the expected state debt in 2025. “We aim to reduce the state debt. We are sure that by 2025 it will not exceed the present level,” he noted.

As far as the fiscal policy is concerned, plans are in place to improve expenditure management by designing regulations for every sector and assigning money from the national budget in line with these regulations. The Finance Ministry estimates that such measures will ensure fair and even distribution of money.

Yuri Seliverstov touched upon the parameters of the national budget. He pointed out that Belarus will not fully switch to three-year budget planning at once. A financial program of the central state budget for a three-year period is already in the works. This program will include certain macro parameters. “However, we do not plan to include details into the program for a three-year period until 2025,” Yuri Seliverstov added.

According to Belarus' Prime Minister Sergei Rumas, the main aim of the program is to draw up an annual plan of budget expenditures and start solving such complicated problems as high state debt, fiscal risks in the real economic sector, and uneven regional development.

The program has already been harmonized with a standing interdepartmental commission on state programs under the Economy Ministry. At the same time there are matters which were to be discussed by the Council of Ministers on 20 August. They include, for example, reducing the debt burden and the tax burden on the economy. “Reducing the debt burden stimulates business development. However, according to our data, the tax burden has been frozen for the period from 2019 till 2025 at a rate of no more than 26% of the GDP. This is even higher than at present – 24.7%. The tax burden is calculated excluding contributions to the State Social Security Fund and therefore does not reflect the real state of affairs,” Sergei Rumas noted.

He said that the draft program does not stipulate relaxing requirements regarding the budget for the real economic sector organizations which have not met these requirements.

The program also does not state target values for export and investment growth. Apart from this, the draft does not take into account some remarks regarding providing state support.

The state program will consist of eight subprograms. The program aims to ensure long-term balance and sustainability of the budget system, raise the efficiency of public finance management, help develop the stock market, insurance and audit activities.

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