Insider / ΚΥΠΕ
The fifth supplementary budget for 2021, amounting to € 180.6 million, was discussed in the Parliamentary Committee on Finance on Monday.
As noted by the Ministry of Finance, the balance of the fiscal balance amounts to 0.11% and clarifies that an amount of € 156.2 million is intra-government transactions and therefore does not affect the fiscal balance.
It is noted that the total amount of the five supplementary budgets this year amounts to € 690.8 million.
Among other things, the new supplementary budget includes additional appropriations of € 85 million to cover the increased expenditure required to pay the increased general government contribution to the GESS by the end of the year, as well as additional appropriations of € 8.5 million for meeting the growing needs for the purchase of drugs and vaccines.
There was also a need for additional credits of € 30 million to finance the National Solidarity Fund due to incorrect accounting in 2019. The amount of € 13.8 million is also foreseen, due to the coverage of the tax debts of the Cyprus People's Bank Public Company, until 30/12/2021 .
The supplementary budget also includes appropriations of € 3.7 million due to the increased migration flows and the increased applications for asylum and international protection, which are accepted by the Social Welfare Services. In particular, these appropriations are expected to cover the cost of material accommodation and accommodation in hotels and other accommodation, as stated.
The supplementary budget also includes increased appropriations to cover the needs that arose, small infrastructure projects, increased sponsorships in the CMO, the University of Cyprus, the Rialto Theater.
€ 165.8 million are also earmarked to cover the maintenance and operation costs of the National Guard.
Credits of € 415,800 are also included due to the increase in the number of greenhouse gas emission allowances available to the Republic of Cyprus, resulting in an increase in the auction costs of the allowances, which are paid to the CSE as an auctioneer.
Also included are increased costs for the payment of Transitional National Aid to sheep and goat farming, as compensation for the increased cost of animal feed, amounting to € 1.4 million. than originally estimated, the relevant amounts can not be disbursed and reused within the year and additional appropriations of € 7.7 million are required for liquidity reasons, so that KOAP can continue to pay the beneficiaries smoothly until the end of 2021 , concerning RDP Measures and Direct Payment Measures, which are co-financed by the EU.
In addition, amounts are included to cover the accrued operating contractors of the OEDA Larnaca-Famagusta units (€ 750,000) and OEDA Limassol (€ 600,000).
Another expenditure of € 19.4 million which was intended to cover, among others, the General Government Contribution to the Social Insurance Fund for 2021 and € 3.8 million expenditure for the provision of Social Pension.
Also included is € 7.5 million in order to repay the cost of the project of replacing the existing energy-intensive street lighting in the communities with LED luminaires.
Article 16 is also amended to diversify the ceiling for the employment of teaching staff, to meet the increased needs of the school year 2021-2022. The implementation of the above regulation implies an additional cost of € 1.8 million for the two months of the school year 2021-2022 (November – December). The word “employees” in the first reservation of Article 16 (first line) is also replaced by the phrase “permanent employees and / or part-time employees”.
At the same time, the Judicial Service is included in the exceptions included in the first reservation of Article 16 in order to provide the possibility of replacing indefinite-term employees and / or part-time employees in the Judicial Service in case of their departure.
At the same time, the need to create limited jobs for the smooth operation of the state machine is covered. These are nineteen positions, ie twelve in the external services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the transfer of the employees of the Cereals Committee to the Ministry of Agriculture (six positions) and to the Department of Public Administration and Personnel (one position) for law enforcement purposes. Cereals Committee at the Ministry of Agriculture.
