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Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Friday amended the state budget for this year, under which revenues would increase by HRK 3 billion to 150.3 billion and expenditures by HRK 9.4 billion to 167.4 billion, while the general government deficit would grow from the initially planned 2.9% to 3.8% of GDP.
The motion to amend was carried by 77 votes in favour, one more than the required 76, confirming that the parliamentary majority is stable, albeit slim.
There had been speculation in recent days that some of the HDZ's partners, notably the Reformists, might not vote in favour, but the head of the Reformists, Radimir Čačić, said on Thursday that their MP Natalija Martinčević would back the budget revision.
All opposition amendments rejected
Before the vote on the revision, about a hundred amendments put forward by the opposition were put to the vote and all were rejected, just as they had been by government representatives the previous day.
The budget revision was prompted by the COVID-19 crisis, notably by problems in the health care sector and debt to wholesale drug suppliers after all legal means have been exhausted to settle the debt to wholesale drug suppliers through budget reallocations.
The bulk of increased expenditures, or HRK 2.8 billion, will go towards the health care sector. The revision will also provide an additional HRK 2 billion for job keeping measures and shorter working hours.
Parliament also amended the accompanying State Budget Execution Act and adopted the annual report on the execution of the 2020 state budget.
(€1 = HRK 7.49)