November 28 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government plans a fiscal deficit equivalent to 0.4% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in the draft budget for next year, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
The government expects the fiscal deficit to be reduced to 0.3% of GDP in 2020, before a surplus of 0.3% of GDP is recorded in 2021, Plenkovic said on Tuesday, as quoted in a statement by the Croatian government.
The country's public debt is projected to amount to 71.6% at the end of 2019, before declining to 68.8% in 2020 and to 65.6% in 2021, Plenkovic said during the presentation of the draft budget for 2019 in Croatia's Parliament on Tuesday.
The fiscal deficit is planned at 1.7 billion kuna ($258.7 million/229.3 million euro), according to the government's 2019 budget, built on projections for economic growth of 2.9% next year. Budget revenues are expected to come in at 136.1 billion kuna, while expenses are forecast at 140.3 billion kuna.
"The most important sources of income for the state budget will remain the value-added tax (VAT), followed by pension insurance contributions, excise duties and income tax," Plenkovic said.
Croatia recorded a budget deficit of 1.9 billion kuna in the first six months of 2018, slightly higher than in the same period of last year. Croatia's central government budget, which includes extra-budgetary funds and local self-government units, was in surplus of 1.6 billion kuna in January-June.
In 2017, Croatia booked a consolidated general government surplus of 2.75 billion kuna, or 0.8% of GDP, after posting deficits for 26 years. The consolidated gross debt at the end of 2017 totalled 283.31 billion kuna, or 78.0% of GDP, while in 2016 it added up to 281.74 billion kuna, or 80.6% of GDP.
(1 euro = 7.41513 kuna)