November 26 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government plans a fiscal deficit equivalent to 0.5% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, the draft budget for next year shows.
The fiscal deficit is planned at 22.9 billion dinars ($219.9 million/193.5 million euro), according to the government's 2019 budget draft posted on the website of Serbia's parliament.
The budget is built on projections for economic growth of 3.5% in 2019. Budget revenues are expected to come in at 1.247 trillion dinars, while expenses are forecast at 1.269 trillion dinars.
Tax revenues are planned at 1.06 trillion dinars, with 539.1 billion dinars of them to be generated by value-added tax (VAT), according to the draft.
The parliament plans to start debates on the draft budget on November 27, according to its schedule of activities.
Тhe draft budget envisages capital investments of 220 billion dinars, to be used to finance improvements to Serbia's infrastructure.
Serbia's budget was in surplus of 36.8 billion dinars in the first eight months of 2018, compared to a surplus of 66.5 billion dinars in the prior-year period, according to finance ministry data.
The budget of Serbia swung to a surplus of 33.9 billion dinars in 2017 from a deficit of 7.9 billion dinars in the previous year.
(1 euro = 118.373 dinars)