English

Lukashenka revises Belarus' 2008 budget

Alyaksandr Lukashenka, by his December 11 edict, has revised Belarus' original national budget, raising both the proposed revenues and expenditures.

The proposed revenues were raised by 8,240 billion to 46,390 billion rubels and the proposed expenditures by 6,150 billion to 46,740 billion rubels, while the deficit was cut by 2,090 billion to 344.7 billion rubels.

The edict says that more money will be spent to fund the government's fixed capital expenditures and housing loans issued by banks to individuals on soft terms.

More funds will be transferred from the national budget to the budgets of the regional and Minsk city executive committees, and expenditures of special budgetary funds and the Social Security Fund, which pays pension and other allowances, will go up.

The Belarusian leader's press office said that changes had been introduced to the government's investment program for 2008 and "a series of other social and economic projects" in pursuance of the edict to increase spending on the construction of "some" properties.