The former Minister of Economic Development announced today that the realization of the capital budget of 20 percent for four months of this year, that is, EUR 48 million out of the planned EUR 240 million, is more than satisfactory.
"Historically, the implementation of the capital budget for this period is always worse, both because of the weather conditions in the north of the country, and because of the holidays at the beginning of the year. Therefore, it is logical that in a period when the construction activity is of a smaller scale, the implementation of the capital budget will be lower. The saga of the budget reserve has been told - the reserve was not spent but was partially allocated, mostly for: support to municipalities (in the amount of EUR 15 million), founding capital for the Credit and Guarantee Fund (EUR 10 million), additional support for agricultural production ( EUR 5 million), financial compensation for newborns (EUR 5 million), support for refugees from Ukraine (EUR 2 million), etc. So it is not true that the funds from the budget reserve have been spent, but rather they have been reserved for a specific purpose. If the new Government he doesn't like this layout and purpose, he can change it at any moment according to his priorities, and without rebalancing the budget - because it's a reserve," claims Milatović.
He said that the budget deficit of 36 million (or 0,7 percent of GDP) for the first four months is historically the smallest and that economic activity in this part of the year in Montenegro is always the smallest - so the smallest amount is charged. of income.
With that in mind - such a small deficit is an incredibly good result. For the sake of comparison, in the same period last year the deficit amounted to 144 million euros or 2.9 percent of GDP, and in 2019, which was solid in terms of public finances, it amounted to 61 million euros or 1.2 percent of GDP. So it was much bigger. All this speaks in favor of the fact that the current government actually inherited never better and more stable public finances. Unrealized revenues due to unadopted laws in the amount of 50 million have already been replaced by revenues for the period January-April, which are 70 million euros higher than planned. The laws are ready and can be approved and sent to the Parliament, which would further strengthen public finances," said Milatović.
He said that for the Health Fund in 2022, the budget foresees almost 350 million euros, which is the highest level of expenditure for health care in history.
"It is important to pay attention to the expenditure side of the Health Fund. For example, we need to analyze how and why the expenditure on medicines from 45 million euros in 2016 increased to 120 million euros in 2022? The answers here should be sought from the previous directors of the Health Fund, of which one minister in the current government," said Milatović.
He said that the current finance minister inherited "public finances that are the best in the recent history of Montenegro", which shows a deficit in 2021 of only 2 percent of GDP, and almost 350 million euros of deposits in the state treasury.
"The situation in the economy is similar, which last year grew by 13 percent in 2021, which was the highest growth in Europe. For the sake of comparison, we found a deficit of 11 percent of GDP in 2020 and only about 50 million euros in deposits in the treasury, while the economic decline was the largest in Europe at 15 percent."
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