More money for social services, veterans and defence, less for economy, construction and agriculture.
Defence Ministry budget in 2017 will amount to 4.16 billion kuna, which is 348.3 million kuna or 9.1 percent more this year, according to the 2017 budget guidelines which were adopted by the government, reports Jutarnji List on November 29, 2016.
The guidelines provide for an increase in the defence budget, after six years of continuous reductions, to 1.23 percent of GDP, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the cabinet session.
The guidelines for drafting the 2017 state budget and projections for 2018 and 2019 include limits on total expenditures by divisions of the state budget, which show how much money individual departments will have at their disposal next year. Due to the proposed tax reform and changes related to the income taxes, the guidelines include compensation to local government units for lost revenues in the total amount of 1.325 billion kuna.
Percentage-wise, the greatest increase is planned for Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy, while the greatest decrease will hit Ministry of Economy. However, these changes are mostly a consequence of earlier decision to move the energy portfolio from Economy Ministry to Environmental Protection Ministry. The guidelines indicate that the budget of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy will be increased by 142 percent, from 336.9 million kuna to 815.7 million kuna. As for the Economy Ministry, its budget will fall by 45.82 percent, to 721.6 million kuna.
Another ministry with substantial budget increase in the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, whose budget will be increased by 17.56 percent to 1.02 billion kuna, due to the implementation of the new Law on the Rights of Veterans.
The budget of the Ministry of Science and Education will also be increased, by 9.66 percent to 12.87 billion kuna. The Ministry has recently lost the sports portfolio, which has been transferred to an independent Central State Office for Sports, which will have its own 106.4 million kuna to spend in 2017.
Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy’s budget will grow by 11.07 percent to 4.74 billion kuna, due to new measures in the field of demographic policy. Health Ministry will get 9.27 percent more money, or 3.3 billion kuna. Budget of Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds will be increased by 9.13 percent to 329.2 million kuna, while Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure will get 8.11 percent more money, or 5.71 billion kuna. Ministry of Tourism will get 147.3 million kuna, 6.84 percent more than in 2016.
Other ministries will also see increases – Ministry of Administration by 4.3 percent to 372.4 million kuna; Ministry of Interior by 3.23 percent to 4.53 billion kuna; Ministry of Culture by 2.33 percent to 676.8 million kuna; Ministry of Labour and Pension System by 1.7 percent to 41.68 billion kuna; Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs by 1.86 percent to 549.86 million kuna; and Ministry of Finance by 0.53 percent to 19.18 billion kuna.
The new Ministry of State Property will be provided with 40.8 million kuna, while the Central State Office for Digital Society Development will get 9.4 million kuna.
However, there are three ministries which will get less funds than this year. In addition to Economy Ministry, Ministry of Construction and Urban Planning will see its funds decreased by 4.61 percent to 300.6 million kuna, while Ministry of Agriculture will get 2.36 billion kuna, which is 1.44 percent less than in 2016.
The 2017 budget has been planned on the assumption of economic growth of 3.2 percent, with the planned general government deficit of 1.6 percent of GDP. Budget revenues in 2017 should amount to 119.6 billion kuna, 2.8 percent more than in 2016, while expenditures should reach 126.5 billion kuna, which is 4.7 billion more than this year.
