Despite the original promises, it seems that Slovakia will not have a balanced budget this year.
“Unfortunately, we will not be able to fulfil our aim and the economy will be in red again,” said Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický, as quoted by the TASR newswire, without specifying the numbers.
The Council for Budget Responsibility estimated the deficit would amount to €1.1 billion.

Cigarettes will not help
One of the reasons is the steep slow-down of the economy. It will grow only by 2.4 percent, according to the estimates of the Institute for Financial Policy, which runs under the auspices of the Finance Ministry.