Finance Minister Zdravko Maric presented the budget proposal for 2019 at a government meeting on Friday, under which all ministries but the Tourism Ministry will get increased budget allocations.

The budget revenues planned for 2019 are expected to amount to 136.1 billion kuna (€18.3 billion), up 5.5 percent in comparison to the 2018 budget, while spending is projected at 140.3 billion kuna (€18.8 billion), 6.9 billion kuna (€928.8 million) more from 2018.

In absolute figures, the biggest winner is the Finance Ministry, as its allocation will increase by nearly 7.5 billion kuna (€1.0 billion), or 21.8 percent from 2018, to 41.9 billion kuna (€5.6 billion).

The State Assets Ministry’s allocation will increase the most, by 47.5 percent to 108.7 million kuna (€14.6 million).

The smallest increases are proposed for the Culture Ministry and the Health Ministry. Culture Ministry’s budget will go up by 2.6 percent, to 1.2 billion kuna (€161.5 million), while the budget of Health Ministry will increase by 2.2 percent, to 11.8 billion kuna (€1.6 billion).

Only Tourism Ministry’s budget will go down, by 16.8 percent to 192.1 million kuna (€25.8 million).

The office of the government can count on 424.5 million kuna (€57.1 million) in 2019, 19.7 percent more from 2018.

The draft budget earmarked 37.7 million kuna (€5.0 million) for the Office of the President, and the budget allocation for the Parliament will be reduced by 9.9 percent to 168 million kuna (€22.6 million).

(€1 = 7.43 kuna)

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