House discusses budget additions

THE FINANCE ministry yesterday submitted a supplementary budget to parliament to cover a further €43.2 million spent in the 2013 budget.

The majority of the budget, some €30.1 million has gone towards Cyprus Airways, ostensibly to cover losses and administrative expenses resulting from a ban on Cypriot traffic over Turkish airspace. It had already been factored by the government and has been sanctioned by the EU, the finance ministry’s report to parliament said. An additional €10m for the state carrier will be credited by the finance ministry’s budget on extraordinary expenses.

Some €4m will cover the health ministry’s expenses for medical supplies. An additional €5m will represent services to those entitled to health care coverage by the state, and has been covered by savings made elsewhere by the health ministry. Health authorities spent €14m of the allocated €19m available for sending health care beneficiaries for healthcare abroad, spending the remainder in covering Cyprus-based healthcare needs.

Some additional €3 million has also gone towards the National Guard’s defence needs.

The House Defence committee discussed the National Guard budget behind closed doors but the committee’s head, Giorgos Varnava, said they had extracted a commitment by the President that Cabinet would sanction requests for a supplementary budget in 2014, to cover defence needs, including buying any new defence systems or maintaining current ones.

 

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