In the first quarter of the year, €25 million has been allocated to capital budget projects, amounting to just over ten percent of the total planned budget, according to representatives from the Ministry of Finance.
Jelena Jovetić, the General Director of the Directorate for Public Investment Management and Public Procurement Policy, reported at a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance, and Budget that the capital budget is also being financed through credit funds, approximately €4.2 million, and an additional €2 million from donations and IPA funds.
“The execution of the capital budget in the first quarter was significantly better than last year,” said Jovetić during the session, which reviewed the capital budget execution report for Montenegro’s first quarter.
She clarified that total spending was two and a half times higher than the previous year, where €10.7 million, or five percent of the capital budget, was spent in the first quarter.
This year, €14.7 million has been disbursed for projects managed by the Directorate for Capital Projects, which is 16 percent of the total budget allocated to this agency, representing a fourfold increase compared to the same period last year.
The Budget Law for this year allocates €240 million for the capital budget, covering 332 projects.
Jovetić highlighted that the government has also adopted a new decision regarding the preparation of the capital budget for the next year.
Additionally, the Ministry is preparing amendments to the Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law to enhance the execution of certain capital budget projects and improve the regulatory framework for managing public investments more efficiently.
Dejan Đurović, a representative of the ZBCG – New Serbian Democracy MP Club, stated that while he is not fully satisfied with the first-quarter execution of the capital budget, he anticipates acceleration in the upcoming quarters.
He also expressed confidence in the planning of the capital budget and foresees no major issues in its execution.
“I expect that in the forthcoming reports, we will be much more satisfied with the expenditure percentage from the planned €240 million. This is particularly important for infrastructure projects managed by the Directorate for Traffic and Monteput,” said Đurović.
Boris Mugoša, an MP from the Social Democrats (SD), expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the report submitted to Parliament.
“I have concerns about the inconsistencies between the figures in the capital budget execution report, the Budget Law, and the reports sent by the agencies to the Government and the Ministry of Finance,” said Mugoša.
He believes that 332 projects in the capital budget are excessive.
“We are spreading ourselves too thin and will not be able to complete them all. It is not beneficial to continuously start new projects without finishing the existing ones. Completing these projects is crucial. We will see the results at the end of the year,” added Mugoša.
He noted that last year, two-thirds of the projects were not even started, which only added to the capital budget burden.
Mihailo Anđušić, an MP from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), mentioned that the Parliamentary Budget Office, which effectively processes such reports, made a summary on one page because the provided material lacked detailed information.
“We lack substantial data on the phases of project execution, the degree of completion, the exact amounts spent to date, and the deadlines. It is challenging to draw conclusions without this information, and I do not wish to make unfavorable comparisons with previous years,” added Anđušić.
Mirsad Nurković, President of the Committee and an MP from the Bosniak Party, said that the initial figures in the report are not encouraging.
“It is concerning that the budget execution for the Directorate for Traffic is only at 10.42 percent, and for the Directorate for Capital Projects, it is at 15.93 percent,” stated Nurković.
He pointed out that it is uncertain how much progress has been made in addressing this shortfall in the second quarter.
“The figures are not encouraging, but I hope the second quarter will balance this out,” concluded Nurković.
