The Parliament unanimously voted[/B] on Thursday unanimously with the 40 deputies present the budget of the Cyprus News Agency (CIF) for 2023 which is balanced and foresees expenditures of €2.942,523 and revenues of the same amount.
According to the supplementary report of the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs on the bill "The Cyprus News Agency Budget 2023 Law of 2022", a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs on the above bill was released on 30 November 2022. However, it is noted, at a later stage, the Minister of Interior submitted a revised text of the referenced budget in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament.
It may be recalled that as part of the debate, which was held before the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee on 17 November 2022 on the said budget, the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Deputy Director of the Cyprus News Agency (CIF) expressed their disagreement with the fact that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Interior did not adopt the creation of a new position of an IT officer, a request which arose in the context of the promoted technological upgrade of the agency.
In this regard, it added, the Committee urged the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance that the executive authority should reconsider the promotion of the creation of a new IT officer post as a matter of urgency on the basis of the new organisational chart of the CNA for the purpose of strengthening its transition to a digital environment.
The Report states that the Minister of Interior, in response to the above-mentioned request of the Chairman and members of the Committee, submitted a revised text of the budget in question to replace the original As a result, the budget in question shows an increase in the agency's expenditure by €7,050 compared to its originally submitted budget for the year 2023,[/I] the supplementary report of the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior states.
Moreover, according to the original Report of the Committee, the expenditure of the CPS mainly concerns staff salaries (€2.161,283), salaries and other benefits (€329,600), and other administrative expenses (€433,990), which include, inter alia, expenditure on rent, building construction, technological upgrades, subscriptions, equipment maintenance, as well as expenditure on freight and other expenses for conferences and missions abroad on official business.
the revenues of the CNA come mainly from public support, from subscriptions to newspapers, broadcasters, news agencies, foreign embassies, the House of Representatives, the Press and Information Office, from state subscriptions for the access of ministries and state and state agencies to the services of the CPS, as well as from the provision to the domestic press of its photographic service.
In particular, it is stated that the main revenues of CFCA are broken down as follows: Revenue from subscribers [NEWSPAPERS, RADIO AND TELEVISION ORGANISATIONS, NEWS AGENCIES, FOREIGN EMBASSIES, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE (€260,000)]; revenue from the state: a. government subscription for access by ministries and state and state agencies (€350,172); b. provision to the domestic press of the CIFA's photo service free of charge (€94,681). There is also income from commercial activities, namely advertising (€40,000) and public support for the agency (€2,123,970).
Also, in its First Report, the Committee states that according to the information submitted to the Committee by the Ministry of Interior, the budget of the CIF for the year 2023 has been prepared based on the guidelines and circulars of the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, as pointed out in the said information, the state subsidy foreseen in the budget under discussion exceeds by €11,073 the ceiling set in the budget of the Ministry of Interior for this purpose for the year 2023 and the resulting difference will have to be covered by savings of the said Ministry.
At the stage of the examination of the budget, the Committee requested additional information and explanations regarding certain provisions of the budget and was informed by the representatives of the CFCI of CNA
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