The 2012 state budget ended with a deficit of €3.811 billion, the Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday, January 2. A shortfall of €3.675 billion had been projected. By way of comparison, the year-end deficit in 2011 stood at €3.726 billion.
The ministry also noted in its preliminary year-end report that the level of the deficit as of the end of 2012 was attained despite a drop in tax revenues of €764.3 million. "The Act on Budgetary Rules of Public Administration enabled the state to have posted a deficit €60.8 million greater [than it actually was]," the TASR newswire quoted the ministry statement, which pointed out that "the law was thus adhered to." State income to the budget reached €11.830 billion at the end of 2012, which represents a year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent and 86.8 percent of the whole-year plan of €13.625 billion.
Meanwhile, state expenditures stood at €15.641 billion at the end of December, thus going up by 2.4 percent y-o-y and representing 90.4 percent of the total sum planned for the year of €17.3 billion. Compared to the plan, the expenditures were lower by €1.659 billion while income fell short of €1.795 billion. When budget revenues in 2011 and 2012 are compared, the 2012 budget posted a drop of €236.7 million in tax revenues, according to the ministry. This shortage was partly offset by a rise of €96 million in income from the EU's budget. An annual rise was also posted in income from dividends, with the hike in this category reaching €114 million. When it comes to comparisons between expenditures in 2011 and 2012, the state is mainly to blame for the rise in 2012, as it claimed expenditures worth €241.9 million. [2012 employed a budget drawn up by the former Iveta Radičová-led government, which handed over the reins to Smer in the first week of April - ed. note]
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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