BRATISLAVA, August 4, (WEBNOVINY)- The current government found a depleted larder, an empty and dirty table, and moreover unpaid invoices in the pantry that were left by its predecessor complained Finance Minister Ivan Miklos in parliament on Wednesday. Miklos, who took the floor within a parliamentary debate on the new government’s program statement which opened earlier in the day, suggested that they left a full larder and a laid table when quitting. The previous government left behind unsettled invoices for EUR 750 million, which is why this year’s general government gap is to widen to 8 percent of GDP, Miklos explained. Among them are the settlement of health insurance for 2009, uncovered loss of the railway transport for 2009-2010, and unsettled invoices for lawyers, experts, and interpreters.
Miklos however underscored that the Fico’s government did not suffer from a shortage of money. It had EUR 25 billion more at disposal within four years than the previous one. “The government had more money for two and a half years because the economy was growing; and then, after its fall, the government continued spending, closing its eyes to reality, at the detriment of the rocketing growing debt,” Miklos said. The previous government did not lack a single euro owing to the crisis, underscored Miklos. He went on to ask: when the public sector had much more money, has the operation of the health sector and the quality of education improved, and have finances flowing in science and research gone up significantly?
If the government of Robert Fico had remained in power, Slovakia would have faced the threat of the Greek path, believes Miklos. This year’s deficit of public finances is expected to reach 8.7 percent of GDP in Greece while the estimate for Slovakia is 8 percent. “So we are very close to the figure which Greece will probably achieve,” he said. Similarly to Greece, Slovakia did not use good times to reduce the general government deficit; instead it ignored the aging of the population, had a high corruption rate, and recorded a drop in competitiveness.
SITA