Provincial budget revision adopted - Budget reduced by RSD 3.5 billion

The Vojvodina parliament adopted Wednesday by a majority vote a revision of the provincial budget which has been reduced by RSD 3,5 billion.

The parliament also adopted a decision to secure a RSD 2.2 billion loan for the province so as to complete the healthcare facility Kamenica 2.

The procurement of equipment for the healthcare facility in Sremska Kamenica will be funded by issuing long-term securities with the maturity deadline of 15 years and the annual interest rate of 6 percent.

Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Pajtic said that the revision had called for a necessary reduction of the provincial budget by 4.4 percent to RSD 77,3 billion because transfers from the central budget had been reduced due to lower corporate income taxes and taxes on employees’ salaries.

Pajtic said that thanks to the reduction of the number of employees in the provincial administration by over ten percent through salary cuts and other savings, the province would manage to accomplish the plans for the budget in 2013.

Explaining the propositions for new loans, Pajtic said that that was a way to make room in the 2013 budget revision for the completion of the healthcare facility that would offer modern conditions for the treatment of grave diseases.

Provincial Secretary for Finance Zoran Radoman said that the investment in the construction of a tunnel through Fruska Gora would not be possible in 2013 as planned because the transfer from the central level for that purpose had been reduced by RSD 3.5 billion.