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Public Finance Deficit Increased to €2.439 billion in June
Thursday 01 July 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, July 1 (TASR) - The public-finance deficit increased by almost €400 million month-on-month in June - from €2.078 billion in May to €2.439 billion, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
At the same time last year, the deficit reached less than a half of the current figure, standing at €1.108 billion.
According to the Finance Ministry's expectations, the overall deficit should reach a record level of €3.746 billion for the whole of 2010, but it has already reached 65 percent of the planned total.
State incomes stood at €4.605 billion in June, which represents 36.7 percent of the expected sum for the whole year of €12.531 billion. They increased by 6 percent year-on-year, however.
State expenditures exceeded the expected amount by 28 percent, reaching €7.316 billion or 44.9 percent of the annual plan (€16.277 billion).
Slovakia's economic situation was considerably effected by the global economic crisis last year, which caused a economic slump of 4.7 percent y-o-y. This meant that the public-finance deficit reached 6.77 percent of GDP instead of the expected 2.1 percent.
The outgoing Government committed itself to consolidating public finances in 2010. According to the public-administration budget for the next three years approved by Parliament in November 2009, the deficit should have been reduced to 5.5 percent of GDP this year, to 4.2 percent in 2011, and below the 3-percent threshold required by the Growth and Stability Pact in 2012.
The ministry published a new prognosis last week, however, according to which it won't be possible to meet this year's commitment. Without additional measures, the deficit is expected to reach 6.98 percent of GDP in 2010. Analysts warn that it could even exceed 7 percent.
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