October 2 (SeeNews) - Serbia's Fiscal Council president Pavle Petrovic has said he expects the country's consolidated budget to show a surplus of some 20 billion ($197 million/168 million euro) dinars in 2017.
The budget surplus can be partially attributed to some one-off effects such as a 10 billion dinar payment from the central bank and higher than expected income from corporate tax, Petrovic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Friday.
If the one-off effects are put aside, the consolidated budget is expected to show a deficit of between 0.5% and 1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year, or some 250 million euro, Petrovic said.
Such deficit can serve as a target for a sustainable economic growth in the future, he noted.
Serbia's budget balance showed a surplus of 60.1 billion dinars in the seven months through July, compared to a surplus of 22 billion dinars in the same period last year, according to data from the finance ministry.
Total budget revenues grew by a real 3.2% on the year, reaching 659.7 billion dinars in the period under review, while expenditure increased 9.4% to 599.7 billion dinars.
(1 euro=119.139 dinars)