Budget plan reformed

New approach to 2012 budget draft sets a ceiling for deficit

The Ministry of Finance has restructured the 2012 budget draft. The new plan is based around two main goals: increased spending on infrastructure investment, and keeping the budget deficit below LL5, 250 billion ($3.5 billion).

The new draft is based on balancing spending, estimated at LL22,850 billion ($15.23 billion), and revenue, presumed to be at around LL20,000 billion ($13 billion).

The new budget proposes introducing more taxes in order to achieve this. Among these are a tax on real estate profits, and a tax on interests on deposits. The plan also proposes a tax on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. The reformed budget plan has scrapped the proposed two percent addition to the VAT, and the LL2,000 consumption tax on gasoline, which were included in the previous plan.