Considering the elections, the Government this year is not adopting a budget for the next year, but, as is customary, a decision on temporary financing for the first quarter of the next year.
The decision was proposed at today’s session and anticipates higher revenues than expenditures, i.e., a surplus. Expenditures are planned at 25.9 billion kuna, while revenues are 26.1 billion kuna. The surplus would be at the level of nine million kuna. For comparison, in the same period last year, revenues were at the level of 23.8 billion kuna, while expenditures were 24.9 billion kuna.
– Such a budget policy aims at reducing the budget deficit, which should be at zero by 2010, said Prime Minister Sanader. The Prime Minister also reiterated the data on GDP growth in the second quarter of 6.5 percent, which will certainly be above six percent by the end of the year, as well as the growth of industrial production of 7.7 percent, concluding that growth can be generated without increased borrowing.
The Government also adopted a regulation introducing an export duty on wheat, which should amount to 98 euros per ton. This move, as in the case of corn, was introduced to discourage the export of remaining stocks of domestic significant wheat in conditions of rising prices due to drought in Croatia and the surrounding area. The average wholesale price of wheat has increased by 33 percent over the year, but exports were also record-breaking, in the six months of this year – 145 thousand tons with an achieved average price of 148 euros. (L. K.)
