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Stats Office Revises 2009 Deficit from 6.77 % of GDP to 7.93 %
Friday 22 Octtber 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, October 22 (TASR) - The public finance deficit for 2009 came in at 7.93 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), a far more precipitous shortfall than the 2.09 percent in 2008 and more than the 6.77 percent estimated this spring by the Statistics Office, it was reported on Friday.
The 2009 data revised by the Stats Office as of October 1 has been forwarded to the European Union's Eurostat.
Finance Minister Ivan Miklos (SDKU-DS) said last month that the 2009 public finance deficit was nearly 8 percent rather than the 6.8 percent of GDP as calculated by the former finance ministry. The discrepancy resulted from downwardly revised tax revenue and government loans extended to hospitals, and loss-making rail companies which will never be repaid due to secondary insolvency – as many client companies are now insolvent.
The Stats Office told Eurostat it expects this year's deficit at 7.81 percent based on figures from the Finance Ministry, the former leaders of which put the end-of-year gap at 5.5 percent.
The national debtload as expressed as a percentage of GDP is expected to rise from last year's 35.42 percent to 42.27 percent in 2010.
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