The Finance Ministry is working on a budget proposal for next year that will bring the deficit down to 2.6 percent of GDP.
“We believe we can cut down on state budget expenses,” ministry advisor Radko Kuruc told the TASR newswire on Tuesday, August 6 about the proposal, which is to be submitted to the government by August 15. Kuruc also said that tackling tax evasion and improving the social benefit system will be part and parcel of the overall package.
The planned austerity measures are also being spurred by a worsening prognosis for state budget incomes, which are estimated to be down €611 million next year. In June, Finance Minister Peter Kažimír announced that the cost-cutting regimen will have a broad-ranging impact on government goods and services, state officials' salaries as well as capital expenses. He has already indicated that he plans to fine-tune the state budget proposal until the last possible moment before it is approved.
The proposal is then to be submitted to parliament by October 15. Meanwhile, the Government appears to be on track to keep the current year's deficit at the EU-prescribed level of 3 percent of GDP.
The Hospodárske noviny economic daily wrote in its Wednesday, August 7, issue that there is not much room left on the side of budget revenues
because the ministry does not want to raise the VAT for ideological reasons. Neither is it considering hiking direct taxes imposed on private people and legal entities.
(Source: TASR, Hospodárske noviny)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
7. Aug 2013 at 14:00
