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Lower chamber approves 2010 national budget

The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly on Friday gave second-reading approval to the draft 2010 national budget.

Alyaksandr Antonenka, chairman of the standing Committee on Budget, Financial and Tax Policy, told the House that the budget provided for the abolition of four taxes. In particular, he said, the government plans to scrap compulsory payments into the Fund for Support of Agricultural Producers, the local tax on retail sales, the local tax on purchases of motor vehicles and the local parking tax.

The government will raise the rate of value-added tax is from 18 to 20 percent to compensate for revenue losses caused by the abolition of the taxes. The tax raise is expected to generate 1.7 trillion rubels in extra revenues.

Consolidated budget revenues are slated at 53 trillion rubels, or 30.4 percent of GDP. Central budget revenues are expected to total 35.5 trillion rubels, a rise of 20.7 percent compared with this year.

Consolidated budget expenditures are slated at 55.7 trillion rubels. Central budget spending is projected to total 38 trillion rubels, up by 23.5 percent.

The national budget is projected to have a deficit of 2,700 billion rubels, or 1.5 percent of GDP.

Mr. Antonenka said that the implementation of the budget would secure economic growth and help alleviate the impact of the global economic crisis. //BelaPAN