Premier: Consolidation Should Reach As Much As €2.4 billion in 2026

(TA3, 'V politike', March 9) Slovakia will have to consolidate its public finances next year to the tune of €2.3-2.4 billion, while initially it was supposed to be only €600-800 million, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday, adding that options to reduce the deficit in the state budget include an audit of the number of state and public administration officials needed, as well as targeted energy aid and investment. The prime minister indicated that the government should address the parameter of the optimal number of civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants as part of the consolidation, but admitted that it's a complicated issue. "Let's put together all the officials, not only in the state administration now, because Slovakia is very complicated in terms of functioning, we have local government, towns and municipalities, we have regional self-government, that is self-governing regions, and we have the state, the state administration. Let's put it all together and ask about the 5.5 million inhabitants, what is the standard. We might be surprised how many more civil servants we have than we would expect," said Fico. Another possible saving of public finances is the transition from across-the-board subsidies of energy prices for the population to targeted energy assistance, which, according to the premier, the Economy Ministry is working on intensively. Denisa Sakova's (Voice-SD) ministry hasn't yet proposed targeted assistance to low-income groups of the population due to lack of time for its preparation. "Once again, I want to say that we'll definitely protect energy prices in 2026. If the minister comes up with some kind of targeted system, let's take a look at it, if it's acceptable, we'll certainly accept it," stressed Fico, adding that the Finance Ministry will look for other ways of consolidation than just cutting spending. Massive economic growth should be the basis for deficit reduction. According to the premier, it should also be supported by investments, including the planned Gotion InoBat Batteries facility in Surany (Nitra region). am