In a guest appearance on "Colors of Morning" on TV Vijesti, Bojan Paunović from the Ministry of Finance announced that the budget for agriculture in 2026 has not been reduced, although the Agricultural Cluster claims the opposite and is demanding that allocations be increased to five percent of the budget.
Paunović said that the subsidy line is at the same level as this year, and that additional funds will be available to agriculture next year through the formation of the Paying Agency, as well as at least 20 million euros more from the IPARD program compared to this year. He also reminded of the favorable credit lines from IPARD and the World Bank, worth about seven million euros.
He stressed that funds for areas that are often mentioned as being reduced — agriculture, culture, ecology and spatial planning — have not been substantially reduced, but rather some of the allocations have been misinterpreted. In culture, he said, consulting expenses have been reduced because they are not needed in the current volume next year, while the mandatory funds are foreseen in the current budget reserve.
He said that ecology is the most expensive chapter in the EU accession process and that hundreds of millions of euros are being drawn from favorable international credit arrangements for water supply and wastewater management projects.
Paunović explained that the cuts were mainly made to discretionary spending items – material costs, consulting services, service contracts – in order to create space for priority policies, and that all departments suffered these cuts "to some extent".
When it comes to capital projects, he confirmed that the largest part of them is directed to the north of Montenegro, including the second and planned assumptions for the third section of the highway, as well as several main routes. About half of the total capital budget funds relate to projects in the north.
Speaking about the city market project in Mojkovac, Paunović said that it has passed the procedure and been ranked according to the rules, but that due to the lack of documentation, its implementation will not be able to begin. The project will remain in the capital budget, but will be postponed until the administrative shortcomings are eliminated.
Explaining the planned borrowing of 710 million euros, Paunović emphasized that this is the maximum framework, and that the actual need depends on the transfer of deposits from 2025. Around 200 million euros have been projected, but the amount could be higher, which would reduce the need for new borrowing.
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Paunović confirmed that minimum pensions will be adjusted again according to the law starting next year, as the two-year freeze expires, and the PIO Fund budget will be around 60 million euros higher. He pointed out that no tax or excise tax increases are planned to finance this growth, and that tax revenues are compensating for the decline in contribution revenues.
Finally, he explained that the increase in expenditures for communication services of about one million euros was a consequence of higher actual costs of postal services this year.
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