MINSK, 3 December (BelTA) – The government will honor all its social obligations in 2022 despite the fact that the 2022 budget will run a deficit, Belarusian Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov told the media following a meeting with the head of state to discuss the social and economic development of the country, BelTA has learned.
The minister stressed that the deficit budget for next year should not be considered as something extraordinary. It ran a deficit this year as well. This only means that the level of revenues that envisaged in the budget will be somewhat lower than the expenses, the minister noted. "Citizens should not worry about that. The government will honor all its social obligations which account for about 45% of all budget expenses,” Yuri Seliverstov assured. “They will be honored in full. We will finance them from the residual budget: this year we are getting more revenue than we planned. So we have the resources.”
According to him, this year the state budget deficit is estimated at Br2.5-2.6 billion, although initially it was planned at Br4 billion and some estimates at the beginning of the year suggested it could have reached Br6 billion.
The government is planning the budget deficit in the amount of about Br3 billion in 2022. "Same as this year. Considering (the total size of the state budget, these are quite acceptable figures," the minister said.
The 2022 budget was discussed at a meeting with the head of state. The president noted that the reasons for the deficit are clear: the budget has incurred unplanned expenses that were difficult to predict. In that regard, he stressed the need to cut on unnecessary expenses what are many. "Therefore the issue of frugality comes to the fore again," the Belarusian leader noted.
