Current Affairs “Unrealistic” state budget for 2009 approved by lower house
Despite its minority support in the lower house the centre-right governing coalition on Wednesday pushed through the state budget for 2009, securing the votes of all five rebel deputies and overriding protests from the opposition Social Democrats and the Communists. This could be seen as a major victory for Prime Minister Topolánek’s government, but there’s a hitch. The budget, which operates with a deficit of some 38 billion crowns, or more than 1.9 billion US dollars, is based on a 4.8 percent economic growth forecast which critics say is simply “unrealistic”. They claim that the deficit is inevitably going to be much higher. Analyst Jan Macháček, from the Czech weekly Respekt, says that data for the 2009 state budget are simply out of date.
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