November 29 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government said on Wednesday it has adopted the draft budget for 2018, envisaging a deficit of 28.4 billion dinars ($281 million/238 million euro), or 0.6% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) for next year.
The budget, built on projections for an economic growth of 3.5% in 2018, envisages revenues of 1.178 trillion dinars and expenses of 1.207 trillion dinars, the government said in a statement.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Serbia's fiscal deficit to stand at 0.7% of GDP in 2018, the head of the IMF mission to Belgrade, James Roaf, said earlier this month.
The draft budget estimates tax revenues at 988.6 billion dinars, as 503.4 billion dinars of them will be generated by value added tax (VAT), the government said. Investments are seen increasing by 30% to 180 billion dinars.
The focus of next year's budget will be on strengthening the stability and resilience of the financial sector, removing obstacles to economic growth and raising competitiveness by implementing comprehensive structural reforms, continuing reforms of public enterprises, and raising overall public sector efficiency, the government added.
Serbia's budget balance showed a surplus of 66.6 billion dinars in the nine months through September, compared to a surplus of 27.2 billion dinars in the prior-year period, according to finance ministry data.
(1 euro = 119.356 dinars)