November 20 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government adopted the 2021 draft budget envisaging a deficit equivalent to 3% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP), it said on Friday.
The draft budget targets revenues of 1.336 trillion dinars ($13.5 billion/11.4 billion euro) and expenses of 1.515 trillion dinars, the government said in a statement.
General government debt is projected to decline to 58.7% of GDP at the end of 2021.
The draft budget envisages a 5.9% increase in pensions as of January 1, while the minimum wage in the country and the salaries of employees in the health sector will rise by 6.6% and 5%, respectively.
The salaries of employees in the public sector will increase by 5% as of April 1 next year.
Capital investments are planned at 273.9 billion dinars, or 18.08% of total expenditures.
Serbia's budget was in deficit of 364.2 billion dinars in the first nine months of 2020, compared to a surplus of 49.9 billion dinars in the like period of 2019, according to finance ministry data.
Serbia's budget recorded a surplus of 12.8 billion dinars in 2019, compared to a surplus of 32.2 billion dinars in the previous year.
(1 euro = 117.548 dinars)