The state budget continues to be filled worse than planned, with the largest drop in corporate tax revenues. At the same time, the budget deficit is larger than planned by almost 5 billion kuna compared to the same period last year, according to data presented at a press briefing by Finance Minister Slavko Linić and his associates.
Total revenues of the state budget for the first six months of this year amount to 52.3 billion kuna, which is 1.4 percent less than in the same period last year and constitutes 46.1 percent of the planned revenues for this year. At the same time, expenditures increased by 4.9 billion kuna compared to the first half of 2012 and at the end of June amounted to 63.7 billion kuna, which is 51.5 percent of the planned expenditures for 2013. Thus, the budget deficit at the end of the first half of the year reached 11.4 billion kuna or 3.4 percent of GDP.
As HRT learns from sources in the Ministry of Finance, a budget rebalancing is expected in September, with the largest problem being obligations for the rehabilitation of healthcare and the Health Insurance Institute amounting to over 3 billion kuna. The budget has also been further burdened by interest expenses and pensions, which are higher by almost half a million kuna.
The total state of tax debt in Croatia today is 22.5 billion kuna, and the government intends to resolve this partly through debt reprogramming and largely through enforcement procedures. Citizens have the opportunity to apply for debt reprogramming only until August 7, which has been done by less than 10 percent so far. Almost 50 percent of entrepreneurs responded, and the government has extended the deadline for them until September 20.
