Tiraspol, 20 March. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Amendments to the 2016 budget became the chief topic of the Supreme Council's session today. They have been debated for a month already. On 2 March 2016 the budget was approved on first reading, and people's deputies and the government have additionally revised it for the second reading. Following the parliament's session, the relevant committee has recommended 55 amendments for approval and 21 for rejection. Several amendments were recalled by their authors.
According to the minister of finance, Irina Molokanova, passing some amendments on second reading is premature as they aim to replenish the budget with non-existent money. As an example the minister cited a project for the replenishment of the Social Stabilising Fund with 80 million roubles that simply does not exist.
«We cannot include these funds in the revenues. They won't come. They do not exist," said Irina Molokanova at the session.
Amendments replenishing the revenues with the funds of state guarantees granted by the PRB to the customers of the bank of agricultural development were also adopted. State guarantees were included in the budget back in 2011 by the law on republican budget.
An amendment providing for the withdrawal of supplementary allowances for some MFA employees also aroused much discussion. According to a deputy foreign minister, Igor Shornikov, these allowances are paid from the ministry's savings, which is why they do not require additional budget funding. This amendment, in his view, may result in the washing away of the ministry's trained personnel. At the same time, Igor Shornikov underscored that the MFA's staff has decreased by 25 people as compared to 2012, but the workload has been retained. As a result, the authors of the amendment — Andrey Safonov and Igor Buga — decided to withdraw it.
No less fierce was the discussion of a project for the conduct of tenders for all types of road works. According to its authors, the practice of holding tenders will help chose the most affordable price in the market, which will result in costs optimisation. However, the minister of regional development, transport and communication, Peter Guzhev, explained that currently all road works are performed by five state-run unitary enterprises and two municipal enterprises.
«In general, we have an established common system of road works that has proved viability for many years. In case this amendment is passed, these seven enterprises will go bankrupt, and about 2,000 workers will be laid off. Each of them has a family. We will regret if we break the system without creating another," underscored Petr Guzhev.
The budget's new parameters may be approved on 6 April when the third reading is supposed to take place. The Supreme Council has proposed the government provide a calculation of costs on budget items and state target programmes financed from the budget. The budget is supposed to pass its third reading at the next plenary session, scheduled for 6 April.
It is recalled that after the first reading that the marginal expenditures of the consolidated budget were 4.6 billion roubles. The revenues were estimated at 3.3 billion. Thus, the deficit exceeded 961 million roubles, or 20.5% of the marginal expenditures.
The financial document should be approved on three readings.
