SLOVAKIA has until the end of 2013 to cut its excess general government deficit. The European Commission gave Slovakia and eight other European Union countries until 2013 to bring their deficits below 3 percent of GDP as required under the European rules, said the EC in its recommendation to the EU Council, the SITA newswire reported.
Finance Ministry spokesperson Miroslav Šmál said that the EU Council is to decide on this recommendation on December 2. If the Council confirms the recommendation, 20 of 27 EU members will be included in the procedure to reduce their excess deficits.
The Finance Ministry said that it finds the deadline for reducing the deficit to be appropriate.
According to Šmál, the general government budget passed by parliament in early November counts on an even more ambitious consolidation, adding that the budget will lead to lowering of the deficit to within the 3 percent limit one year earlier, namely by 2012.
