The Slovak Parliament approved the draft budget for next year on Tuesday. Of the 146 deputies present, 85 deputies supported the budget while 61 deputies rejected the budget bill. At the same time, none of the more than twenty proposals for changes raised were accepted, the parliament thus for the first time approved the wording of the budget as submitted by the Cabinet. The state budget projects the general government deficit at SKK 31.981 billion, which is a decrease of over SKK 6.4 billion when compared with this year's budget. Revenues are projected at SKK 348.252 billion and expenditures at SKK 380.233 billion. Budgeted revenues are thus more than twelve percent higher than the projection for this year, while expenditures are nine percent higher than this year's plan. The general government deficit next year should not exceed 2.3 percent of GDP.
The Environment Ministry reported the biggest increase from 2007 in budgeted expenditures from individual ministries. Including funds from the European Union, ministry spending should grow 124.8 percent to SKK 7.828 billion. The Agriculture Ministry posted the second highest y/y growth in expenditures. Its budget for next year should be SKK 29.091 billion, which is 60.3 percent more than in 2007. The Ministries of Finance and Culture should receive over 25 percent more than this year, namely SKK 10.766 billion and SKK 5.115 billion, respectively.
The absolutely biggest volume of funds of SKK 55.494 billion should be allocated for the Education Ministry. The ministry will receive 8 percent more than a year ago. This should be followed by the Labor Ministry with SKK 52.928 billion, up 2.1 percent, and the Health Ministry with SKK 33.734 billion, up 12.1 percent. The Defense Ministry's budget should increase by 9.4 percent y/y to SKK 31.169 billion and the Transport Ministry's budget by 13.5 percent y/y to SKK 30.948 billion. The Foreign Affairs Ministry is the only ministry to receive less than this year. It is to spend SKK 3.542 billion in 2008, which is a drop of 0.4 percent from 2007.
(EUR 1 = SKK 33.251 on December 4)