THE OPERATING costs of the state have dropped significantly in the last year, Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš announced on July 4, as reported by the SITA newswire. According to Mikloš, costs related to the operation of state institutions dropped during the first half of 2011 by 9.1 percent year-on-year.
While in the first half of 2010 the operating costs totalled €4.77 billion, this year they fell to €4.34 billion.
“The cost of the state went down significantly and the budget is developing well,” Mikloš said, as quoted by SITA. According to him, the cost items growing faster than last year are expenses related to servicing the national debt and to co-financing projects supported by EU funds.
The state budget deficit remained stable in June in a month-on-month comparison, at €1.567 billion. For the first six months, using a year-on-year comparison, the budget situation improved 35.3 percent: in 2010, by the end of June the state budget deficit had reached €2.439 billion.
The state budget deficit is projected to be €3.81 billion in 2011.
