The Finance Ministry submitted the first draft of the 1998 state budget in the first week of June. The revenues are predicted to be Sk 175 billion Sk and expenditures to be 210 billion Sk, planning for 35 billion Sk deficit.
The principal installments of Slovakia's national debt should be 3.2 billion Sk higher than this year, amounting to 28.5 billion Sk. Total debt servicing should be 40 billion Sk.
The basic budget assumptions are a minimum 5 percent GDP growth (6.8 percent in 1995 and 6.9 percent in 1996; 5.1 percent for the first four months of 1997), 6 percent inflation and a slight decline in unemployment (currently below 13 percent).
