The government press centre announced that today the Council of Ministers decided to allocate 10 million leva from the budget of the National fund “Agriculture” to cover the Value added tax (VAT) expenses of the approved rural development projects in 2009.

The measure is taken, because the expenses for VAT of projects by municipalities and rural regions, by the Ministry of agriculture and foods and the fund can not be financed with European Union money. They also can’t be deducted as a taxation credit, which is another problem for the municipalities that want to apply.

All municipalities that execute projects under the Program for development of rural regions will continue to pay VAT, but the sums will be restored by the “Agriculture” fund during the final payment of the expenses of the respective project.