Minister "speaks in name of budget"

Belgrade, March, 18. 2010 (Source: B92) - Finance Minister Diana Dragutinović said that the state should try to have no budget rebalances this year and to keep wages and pensions at the same level.
She told daily Večernje Novosti that budget income is at the planned level and an increase in wages and pensions can be expected only if income increases significantly, stressing that she is speaking on the issue only in relation to the budget passed by the government. "I am not saying that there will not be an unfreezing (of wages and pensions), I am reading what is written in the budget. Nothing can be said for certain. I would like for us to have one budget in 2010. Not two. But for an increase in wages and pensions there would have to be a rebalance," she said. Dragutinović said that the problems of unemployment and the decrease in demand could be solved in part by tax reforms. She said that she personally supports an increase in taxes on spending and a decrease of taxes on wages, adding that this is "her personal vision of tax reforms, which does not mean that the government must accept it.