Finance Minister Eduard Heger (source: SITA)
The cabinet has approved changes to this year’s state budget. The deficit is expected to increase by €9.2 billion compared to the original plans, while total state expenditures should rise by nearly €7.8 billion.
Originally, the state budget deficit was projected to amount to €2.8 billion (or 0.5 percent of GDP), while the state budget expenditures were projected at €18.5 billion.
The changes are a response to the current coronavirus pandemic, and the drop in tax and non-tax incomes, the Finance Ministry explained. It is also necessary to secure sources for uncovered expenses, which the state budget did not count with for this year.
“We had to correct the mistakes in the original budget and respond to the coronavirus crisis,” said Finance Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO), as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that it was necessary to make the budget goals more realistic and add parts that were missing. “We also had to respond to the drop in revenues, which will be huge this year.”
The draft amendment will now be discussed in the parliament in a fast-track proceeding, TASR wrote.
