December 27 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's parliament said it adopted the state budget for 2018 envisaging a deficit of 116.2 million euro ($138.2 million) equivalent to 2.6% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP).
The budget, built on projections of economic growth of 3.0% in 2018, envisages revenues of 1.705 billion euro and expenses of 1.821 billion euro, the parliament said in a statement on Tuesday.
The largest contribution to the real GDP growth is expected to come from household spending and investments in fixed capital formation, which are forecast to rise by 2.9% and 7.0%, respectively.
The Montenegrin government plans to borrow 158.8 million euro next year, including a 15 million euro loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for the construction of a prison in Bijelo Polje, a 40 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the reconstruction of roads and a 6 million euro loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for energy efficiency projects.
Consumer price inflation is projected to accelerate to 2.6% in 2018 from 2.5% this year, before slowing to 1.9% in 2019 and 1.5% in 2020.
Montenegro's budget balance showed a deficit of 102.7 billion euro in the first nine months of 2017, an increase of 74.5 million euro over the prior-year period.
($ = 0.840797 euro)