Kamenicky: Budget to be Adjusted in Parliament, Target Deficit Not to Change

Bratislava, October 15 (TASR) - The next year's budget was approved by the Government on Tuesday without an extensive debate, although still remaining open are two issues: the aid with energy prices and money for health sector, which will both need to be taken into account during the parliamentary vote on the budget, but not at the expense of the target deficit of 4.7 percent of GDP, which must be met no matter what, Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) declared after a session of the Government on the same day. "I reject any speculations on whether or not the consolidation is going to be carried out. We are consolidating, that's a necessity that we, unfortunately, must do, as we've inherited the worst budget within the EU and we must address that," underlined Kamenicky. If the consolidation weren't to take place, the public debt of Slovakia would swell in the following years to 66 percent of GDP. "I dare to say openly that if the debt were to increase that steeply, we would find ourselves in a situation when Slovakia might have problems with selling its bonds and could even find itself in a state of bankruptcy," he warned. mf