/ world today news/ The National Assembly adopted the update of the state budget for 2014 in the first reading.
Out of 206 votes, 123 were “for”, 42 – “against” and 41 abstained. The deputies of GERB, the Reform Bloc, the Patriotic Front (with the exception of one “abstention”) and ABV voted for the update, the BSP and “Ataka” voted against, and the DPS (with the exception of 1 vote “against”) and the BDC they abstained.
Deputies also voted on Menda Stoyanova’s proposal to shorten the time for submission of proposals between the first and second reading to three days, instead of the seven days provided for in the rules. Out of 201 votes, 148 deputies were “for” shortening the time, 42 were “against” and 11 abstained.
In the reasons for the draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on the State Budget, it is stated that the most serious problem is the lack of funding for commitments made in the Ministry of the Interior, where over 80% of the costs are formed by personnel costs.
The problem in the ministry’s system is exacerbated by the adopted changes to the Law on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which provide for an increase in the costs of remuneration, material and social security for employees, without the Ministry’s budget for 2014 providing funds for this, the petitioners from Ministersky claim advice. The necessary additional resource for the maintenance of the MIA system for 2014 is in the amount of BGN 125.7 million, of which BGN 110 million for personnel costs and BGN 15.7 million for the maintenance of the MIA system for 2014. The optimization and restructuring of the Ministry of the Interior’s expenses can only be realized through structured reforms in the Ministry, which cannot happen in the short term until the end of the year.
A shortfall is also emerging in the financing of social payments under the budget of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the amount of BGN 50 million, of which BGN 36 million is for household benefits, for employment programs and to guarantee the payment of social benefits in the system of social assistance and BGN 14 million for maintenance of the activities of the implementation of the main functions of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy.
The Ministry of Health is experiencing difficulties in securing the necessary funding for psychiatric care, hemodialysis, treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, funding for emergency care, as well as financial support for medical facilities for hospital care in remote and hard-to-reach areas where the lack of health units poses a serious risk to the population. The necessary funds for this purpose amount to BGN 24.2 million.
According to the budget of the Ministry of Regional Development, there is a shortfall in the amount of BGN 16.4 million, of which BGN 13 million is for winter maintenance of the Republican road network and BGN 3.4 million – compensation due for property expropriation and payment of activities under priority infrastructure projects .
According to the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, there is also a shortfall in the amount of BGN 16.4 million for the payment of concluded contracts in the part of the maintenance of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency – BGN 5.4 million, Agricultural Academy – BGN 5 million, Forestry Executive Agency – 4 million BGN, and to the Executive Agency “Fisheries and Aquaculture” – 2 million BGN. According to the budget of the SJC, there is a shortage of funds in the amount of BGN 10 million for the payment of jurors’ fees and for the payment of benefits due under the Labor Code.
According to the budget of the Ministry of Justice, there is a shortage of funds in the amount of BGN 5 million, of which BGN 0.5 million for legal aid, BGN 2.25 million for the maintenance of prisons of the DG “Execution of sentences”, and for the support of the Main Directorate “Security” – ensuring the convoy activity and ensuring the security of the magistrates – BGN 2.25 million.
In Goranov’s update, the deficit under the consolidated fiscal program is predicted to be 3.7% of the estimated GDP. The government plans to take another BGN 4.5 billion this year. The new loan will be used to cover the unforeseen deficit for liquidity support for the banking system (BGN 2.9 billion) and for additional expenses of the ministries (about BGN 280 million).
During the debates on the update, the leader of DPS Lyutvi Mestan indicated that his parliamentary group will not support the update, because in his words, when with one act our country will enter an excess deficit, we owe the citizens the truth about KTB. A debt of 3 billion cannot be issued without having said why and without political responsibility, he added. With this update, the cabinet is going down a bad path, said his representative Mikhail Mikov. According to him, it creates laziness for the revenue agencies, is not transparent enough and leads to an excess deficit procedure, for which the government of Boyko Borisov will be held responsible.
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