The Zagreb City Assembly on Thursday adopted the 15.12 billion kuna budget for 2022, proposed by Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, with a vote of 28-14, with the opposition saying it is unrealistic, insufficiently transparent, and not development-oriented.

The budget is 1.12 billion kunahigher than the revised budget for this year. Next year debt payment expenditures will be 700 million kuna higher than this year.

The city expects 520 million kuna from the Solidarity Fund for the post-earthquake reconstruction of schools and the transport infrastructure. The city has set aside 160 million kuna to co-fund the reconstruction of private buildings, twice as much as this year.

Next year 52 million kuna is envisaged for the construction of three or four kindergartens, more than twice the average amount in the last five years.

The mayor said all the planned revenues were realistic and all expenditures within the limits of those revenues.

He said there was a 300 million kuna surplus in next year’s budget and that the accumulated deficit was 1.4 billion kuna.

Tomasevic said the budget had three basic goals – to stabilise the city’s finances given the consolidated debt of 8.2 billion kuna, to intensify post-earthquake reconstruction, and to achieve the targets of a greener and fairer city.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)