Under the 2019 budget bill, which was drafted by the Finance Ministry and will be discussed by the Cabinet on Tuesday, central government budget revenue, including EU and other international support, is expected to grow by 16.7 percent next year compared with this year to 10.587 billion euros and expenditure is projected to rise by 22.2 percent to 11.681 billion euros.
This leaves a budget deficit of 1.095 billion euros, more than twice as high as this year’s estimated deficit of 489.171 million euros.
Excluding EU and other international support funds, which are set to decline by 16.6 percent to 1.922 billion euros, central government revenue should increase by 28 percent to 8.665 billion euros.
The government’s total tax revenue is expected to grow by 30.1 percent next year compared with this year to 8.019 billion euros. The value-added tax (VAT), the largest single source of tax revenue, should increase by 8.8 percent to 3.85 billion euros.