AKEL unanimously decides to vote against the 2018 state budget
Statement by Haris Polycarpou, Head of the Economic Research Bureau
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 10th December 2017, Nicosia
The budget submitted by the Anastasiades government for 2018 is one of the same.
It includes restricted expenditure on growth and cuts in social benefits.
It is obvious that the government is only concerned about projecting statistical figures and is indifferent to the real economy, working people and society.
That is precisely why it didn’t hesitate to table a supplementary budget of many millions of Euros for 2017 so that it could cover the cost of its pre-election announcements, deducting spending from the developmental budget, housing programmes and infrastructure projects for the health sector.
AKEL’s vision of the state budget is based on three main characteristics, namely that it is:
- Geared to growth,
- Socially sensitive,
- In order
A tidy budget releases resources that can be channeled towards growth and social welfare.
A developmental budget creates wealth and quality jobs, reducing unemployment.
A socially sensitive budget provides support for the socially vulnerable groups of the population.
The 2018 budget is neither one, nor the other.
The plenary of the C.C. of AKEL has unanimously decided to vote against the 2018 state budget.
