October 23 (SeeNews) - Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday he expects oil group NIS [BEL:NIIS] to contribute to the state budget this year 1.3 billion euro ($1.5 billion), which represents 10% of the country's consolidated budget income.
The company has paid around 100 billion dinars ($984.5 million/838.9 million euro) to the state budget since the beginning of the year and is the biggest contributor in the country, Vucic said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug.
Serbia's budget balance showed a surplus of 66.5 billion dinars in the eight months through August, compared to a surplus of 31.8 billion dinars in the respective period of last year. Total budget revenues grew by a real 7.4% on the year, reaching 744.5 billion dinars in the period under review, while expenditure increased 2.5% to 678 billion dinars.
NIS generates between 2.5% and 2.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Serbia and has an enormous importance for the country, Vucic said during the launch of the construction of a deep refining unit at the Pancevo refinery of the oil group.
Serbia's Business Registers Agency said last week NIS was the most profitable company in the country last year, with a net profit of 16.1 billion dinars. NIS generated 3% of the total net profit in the Serbian economy and ranked second in terms of operating revenue, of 177.9 billion dinars, in 2016.
Russia's Gazprom Neft controls a 56.15% stake in the capital of NIS, while the Serbian government owns a 29.87% shareholding interest.
(1 euro = 119.261 dinars)
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