State Budget Draft Counts with Deficit of €2.017 bn in 2017

State Budget Draft Counts with Deficit of €2.017 bn in 2017

Bratislava, October 5 (TASR) – According to the budget draft for 2017 that was approved by the Cabinet at its session on Wednesday, the fiscal deficit of the state budget is supposed to reach €2.017 billion in 2017.

Total revenues of the budget should reach €15.415 billion, while total costs €17.432 billion.

The public finance deficit is expected to be gradually reduced in the coming years – to 1.29 percent of GDP in 2017 and 0.44 percent in 2018, with the budget finally reaching a surplus of 0.16 percent in 2019. The budget envisages a cut in the total state debt to 49.1 percent of GDP.

The draft is based on the latest economic prognosis of the Finance Ministry that counts with GDP growth of 3.5 percent year-on-year in 2017, with Brexit fallout of 0.2 percent of GDP already taken into account.

According to the ministry, the employment will keep on growing in 2017 as well. It should increase by 1.5 percent or by 34,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate should stand at 8.5 percent with further decreases expected for the next years. The nominal wage growth should be accelerated by 3.5 percent and the average salary should reach €940 in 2017.