The Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Budget supported today the proposed financial plans of the Securities Commission (KHOV) and the Insurance Supervision Agency for the next year.
The members of the Committee will give their opinion on the proposals of the work plan with financial plans for the next year of the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Activities (EKIP) and the Regulatory Agency for Energy (RAE) after certain additional inputs from the Government and corrections in accordance with its suggestions.
The representative of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Veljko Zarubica, proposed that the Committee on the work plan with the financial plan of the RAE for the next year make a statement after its correction in accordance with the suggestions of the Ministry of Finance. Those suggestions refer to the reduction of the planned amount that will be used for the payment of salaries to the employees of that regulatory body.
The president of the RAE Board, Branislav Prelević, said that the planned amount of 870 thousand euros for wages in the next year is 2,93 percent higher, among other things, due to the intention to increase the number of employees from 29 to 32. The RAE also warned that a possible reduction in wages could cause an outflow of staff.
The MP of DPS, Rešad Adrović, said that by comparing the submitted data from the financial plan, it can be seen that the amount intended for the payment of wages in the RAE in the next year is 30 percent higher than that of the last one.
He considers it strange that the proposed financial plan of the RAE for the next year foresees an equal percentage increase in income and expenses of 7,48 percent to 1,39 million euros, or about 1,3 million.
"It's hard to explain, unless it's tuning," said Adrović.
He added that next year RAE expects a surplus of 86 thousand euros, the same as last year, when revenues were ten percent lower than planned for the next year.
"The amount of the surplus, which is paid into the budget, is the same from year to year," said Adrović.
The deputy of the Democratic Front (DF), Strahinja Bulajić, asked the RAE to explain what is meant by the item "other income", which according to the regulator's financial plan will increase by 185 percent next year.
"What is the share of Elektroprivreda in the planned income from fees? You stated that the costs of official trips will amount to 52 thousand euros, which is a lot even for the Assembly, and 35 thousand for consulting services. The costs of the seminar are EUR 20, and for organizing international gatherings in the field of energy, EUR XNUMX," said Bulajić.
Prelevic announced that RAE will pay 290 euros into the budget this year, instead of just over 80, as stipulated by the decision of the Ministry of Finance.
"Of that amount, 60 thousand euros are reserves from last year, 80 thousand are based on the decision of the Ministry of Finance, and around 70 thousand are unspent funds. It will be the same next year as well," said Prelevic.
He added that all the increases and decreases foreseen in the RAE financial plan for the next year are justified.
RAE, according to Prelević, expects a huge work in the normative sense in the coming year, given that it will be obliged to draft the necessary by-laws in accordance with the adoption of the new law on energy.
The board postponed the statement on the proposed work plan with the financial plan of EKIP for the next year, because it expects additional inputs from the Government regarding the problem of that regulator and the Post of Montenegro regarding the coverage of the cost of around one million euros of the universal postal service.
The President of the Council of EKIP, Šaleta Đurović, believes that the existing legal solution, which foresees the obligation of that regulator to cover the costs of the universal postal service, is not good, if this is not done by the Compensation Fund, into which the revenues of postal services flow.
The executive director of the Post of Montenegro, Milan Martinović, announced that the costs of the universal postal service, which is of public interest, are realistically shown and that the struggle for their settlement has been going on for several years.
"With this plan, we are trying to ensure that it is clearly stated that the cost of the universal postal service cannot be lower than the one calculated by the Post," said Martinović.
He cited the example of Croatia, whose regulator approved the cost of universal service of 12 million euros to Posta.
"It is about the fact that this is a small and underdeveloped market and that funds cannot be provided from the licenses for certain postal activities," said Martinović.
EKIP's financial plan for the next year foresees a decrease in income of 1,8 percent to over 4,4 million euros, while expenses will fall by 1,3 percent to 4,18 million.
"The surplus of 311 euros will be paid into the budget", stated Đurović and added that the gross earnings of the employees in the next year will be at the level of this year's.
He added that the net earnings of EKIP employees next year will be 1,07 thousand euros, and that of directors and members of the Council will be 1,3 thousand.
The Board accepted the proposed Work Plan with the financial plan of the Insurance Supervision Agency for the following year, which foresees that the planned income and expenses will be at the level of this year's.
The President of the Council of the Agency, Branko Vujović, stated that they planned that next year five percent of the generated income, that is, around EUR 37 thousand, should be directed to solving housing issues, which was criticized by the Ministry of Finance.
"We have no other options to help solve those issues, and even this amount is not enough, because an apartment could only be bought after a few years," Vujović said, adding that incentive measures for employees are necessary.
The members of the Committee warned the representatives of the Insurance Supervision Agency that in the next year they did not plan an excess of income over expenses, which would be paid into the budget.
The representative of the Socialist People's Party (SNP), Aleksandar Damjanović, said that the other regulators planned a surplus, and that the budget of the Insurance Supervision Agency will not benefit from it in the coming year.
Adrović suggested to the representatives of the Insurance Supervision Agency not to allow it to happen that they do not pay money into the next year's budget, because this example could be followed by other agencies in the future.
The president of KHOV, Zoran Đikanović, announced that the regulator expects a positive result for the next year, with revenues of 850 thousand EUR and expenses of 835 thousand EUR, in accordance with the Financial Plan Proposal.
"Last year we had a loss, this year it was balanced, which is expected in the next one as well," said Đikanović and added that the financial plan for the next year is realistic.
He added that the proposed plan is the result of a projection based on the expressed interest of issuers of securities.
DPS deputy, Zoran Jelić, said that the financial plan of KHOV for the next year foresees a reduction of 2,3 percent, which, as he assessed, is probably a consequence of the market situation.
The board proposed Filip Vuković from DPS and Strahinja Bulajić from DF as members of the Council for Foreign Investments.
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