The Financial Policy Institute (IFP), working under the Finance Ministry, has prepared an analysis in which it included various scenarios for Slovakia’s economic growth for next year and its effects on the state budget deficit, the SITA newswire reported on December 16.
While the Ministry of Finance predicts economic growth at 1.7 percent, which can increase the deficit to 4.6 percent of the gross domestic product, the prognoses of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country’s central bank, are more optimistic. OECD expects growth at 1.8 percent while the NBS predicts 2.3 percent.
“If the OECD assessments come true, this development will have a positive influence on the public finance deficit amounting to €129 million,” said the director of IFP, Ján Tóth, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that when NBS expectations are used in calculations, the amount can reach €145 million.
The European Commission offered the most sceptical scenario, forecasting that Slovakia will register GDP growth of only 1.1 percent, which would decrease revenue to the state budget by €74 million and increase expenditure by €10 million, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
