In December, over 66.5 million EUR was paid from the state treasury to domestic and foreign financial institutions to settle credit debts, with more than 27 million EUR allocated for interest payments, according to the Action for Social Justice (ASP) organization.
The organization stated that, of the total sum, around 36.6 million EUR was paid toward the principal of loans to domestic and foreign creditors, while the rest covered related banking services and fees.
“For the past decade and a half, the country has been trapped in a vicious cycle of borrowing, with loans continually refinanced, and debts growing. Meanwhile, the state budget is consistently burdened by a large and growing number of employees and their reckless spending of public money, as well as massive expenses for the most expensive medicines, healthcare services, roads, infrastructure works, and capital projects,” said ASP.
They believe that no government has been willing to tackle excessive public spending or break up monopolies and corrupt practices.
“In the meantime, the budget for this year has not yet been adopted due to opposition objections, which are blocking the parliament’s work over a dispute regarding the retirement of a Constitutional Court judge, widely known for protecting the state’s property rights in the Limenka scandal. This case cost taxpayers about 10 million EUR, which ended up in the pocket of Aco Đukanović,” added ASP.
They also reminded that in January, a new installment of the loan to the Chinese Exim Bank for the construction of the Smokovac-Mateševo highway section, one of the most expensive in Europe, came due. Additionally, in April, the principal of a 500 million EUR Eurobond is due for repayment.
“This year, debt repayments of over 820 million EUR are planned. Of that, 159 million EUR is designated for interest, with 147 million EUR for non-residents and the rest for residents,” stated ASP.
They also pointed out that interest payments have exceeded 100 million EUR annually for several years, while many cities in the country lack even basic social institutions, clearly indicating an extremely impoverished society.
“On the other hand, December’s data also show large expenditures from the budget reserve, at least around 25 million EUR, as one payment was marked confidential and the exact amount could not be determined. Moreover, over 200,000 EUR was paid for various assistance decisions, another similar amount for natural disasters, and there were multi-million payments recorded by certain ministries,” said ASP.
They added that the budget revision for last year allocated 70.7 million EUR for the budget reserve, and it is evident that the December disbursements, at least 25 million EUR, represented a third of the yearly sum projected for this budget line, realized in just one month.
The budget for this year has earmarked 48.3 million EUR for the budget reserve.
