The normative act by which the government recently changed the budget of 2022 cut by about 16 billion ALL (131 million euros) funds for institutions and public spending programs from infrastructure, education, defense, etc.
Ministry of Finance tables show that the cuts include all public expenditures and administration institutions in all programs, but mostly the funds for infrastructure have been reduced, mainly investments in roads and water supply.
In total, expenditures for line ministries and budget entities will be ALL 352 billion according to the latest changes from ALL 368.4 billion that were programmed in the initial budget, with a reduction of 4.4%.
As can be seen from the data of the Ministry of Finance, the largest reduction of expenditures was made to the Ministry of Infrastructure, for which the funds were reduced by 9.4% or about ALL 4.4 billion. The highest reduction was made in the item, “Water Supply, Sewerage” by ALL 3 billion or 21% compared to the initial budget.
Also, funds for road transport were reduced by ALL 1.3 billion or 5.5% of the initial program.
The funds of the Ministry of Agriculture were reduced by 5.5 percent or 699.7 million ALL, when it is seen that the funds for fishing have been halved, which with the changes in the normative act have reached 327 million ALL from 702 million ALL programmed in the initial budget. All items of expenditure of the Ministry of Agriculture have decreased, including rural development and, food security, irrigation, drainage, etc.
The budget for the apparatus of the Ministry of Finance was reduced by 1.6 billion ALL or 13 million Euros, where the largest reductions were made for the payment of social insurance by 730 million ALL (6 million Euros) and the support for economic development with a reduction of fund with 41% or 418 million ALL.
The cuts also include the Ministry of Education, with over 1.6 billion ALL (13 million euros) or 3.6% of the forecast in the initial budget. Expenditures for University Education suffered the largest reduction by over 5.5% or ALL 600 million, funds for basic education were reduced by 3% or ALL 756 million and funds for secondary education were reduced by 3% or ALL 278 million.
Fewer cuts were applied to the Ministry of Health with only 0.46% of the initial budget.
For the Ministry of Defense the reductions were also high by about ALL 1.8 billion or 5.6 of the initial program. The “Combat Support” program was reduced by 12% or about 8 million euros, funds for civilian emergencies were reduced by 26 percent or about 9 million euros and funds for combat forces were reduced by about 3 million euros or 3.8%.
The saved funds have been made available for the purchase of energy because the water supply in the country is running out./Monitor
The post Government cuts 131m euros in funding for education, roads, water supply and agriculture, prepares them for energy imports appeared first on Newsbomb Albania.
