The state-budget deficit in Slovakia reached €205 million at the end of March, growing slightly from February's €185 million, it was announced on Wednesday, April 1.
The deficit increased by €318.7 million year-on-year (y/y); the budget was €113.7 million in surplus at the end of March last year, the TASR newswire wrote.
The Finance Ministry announced that the state’s income was €2.411 billion in the first three months of 2009, representing 18.4 percent of the budgeted state income for 2009 of €13.116 billion. The figure represented a 10.3 percent y/y decrease. Conversely, state expenditures increased by 1.6 percent y/y in the same period. The state spent €2.65 billion, or 18.5 percent of overall planned expenditure for this year of €14.25 billion. The budget deficit for the whole of 2009 was originally projected to be €1.009 billion, but it is expected that the economic crisis and the slowing Slovak economy will produce a larger deficit. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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