Maintaining the originally planned 5.5-percent public-finance deficit is still a realistic plan for this year, even though the Finance Ministry's latest prognosis speaks about 6.98 percent, said outgoing Finance Minister Ján Počiatek (a Smer nominee) on July 7. He stated that the next government will be able to use a reserve fund worth €300 million, cuts in expenditures, and EU funds as tools to achieve this.
“We're not leaving the treasury empty. I’ve collected €300 million in one account by putting together all the reserves we’ve had ... they can use it on whatever they want,” Počiatek said, as reported by the TASR newswire.
The departing minister stressed that squeezing the deficit to 5.5 percent is a task for the new government. “They were promising radical savings, so we’ll wait to see if they practice what they preach,” he said, adding that he is sceptical as to whether any cuts aimed at lowering the deficit will ever be put in place. “Based on what I've heard from them in the media, the situation is slowly becoming twisted – they are saying that the situation is different from what they expected,” said Počiatek.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
