THE SLOVAK Finance Ministry announced a public finance deficit of Sk42.5 billion for 2005, which was 2.95 percent of the country's GDP, the SME daily wrote.
This is in line with an important Maastricht criterion, which stipulates no EU member's public finance deficit can exceed 3 percent of GDP.
The Maastricht criteria are guidelines that must be met before an EU member can join the Eurozone.
The finance ministry expected the 2005 public finance deficit to be 3.4 percent of GDP, as had been approved in the state budget.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
