BRATISLAVA, October 3, (WEBNOVINY) – Former Finance Minister and legislator for SMER-SD Jan Pociatek thinks that about half of the state budget draft for 2011 will be fulfilled, both on the sides of revenue and spending. In his words, the Cabinet “juggled figures” in this respect. In the “Na Telo” political program on TV Markiza, Pociatek mentioned optical savings; according to him, the center-right Cabinet calculated in “a pseudo chart” that they will save 985 million euro, but they have forgotten to announce that approximately 1,000 another items will rise by 1.8 billion euro.
Incumbent head of the finance department Ivan Miklos (SDKU-SD) retorted that Pociatek was comparing the draft budget for 2011 and the plan for 2010 unrealistically and poorly compiled by the previous government of Robert Fico. Miklos said that the way how Robert Fico’s Cabinet used finances and how they prepared the budget have turned this document into a scrap paper.
Pociatek argued in the program that the incumbent Cabinet has maximized the deficit estimate for this year to 7.81 percent of the GDP (versus the initially projected 5.5 percent of the GDP) because they failed to carry out austerity measures. In his words, the aim is to push the deficit to the maximum to make the consolidation “look good” in a year-over-year comparison. Miklos said in response that the coalition found many outstanding invoices and expenditures which had not been initially budgeted but eventually had to be settled.
SITA