Ministry of Finance stands by budget deficit figure

The Ministry of Finance has denied a newspaper report that the Czech Republic faces a bigger budget deficit next year because of an embarrassing oversight at the Ministry of Finance. Thursday’s edition of the business daily Hospodářské noviny said the deficit would rise from 163 billion crowns to 173 billion because the ministry used the wrong economic growth figures for next year. It said the ministry counted on growth of 0.3 percent next year instead of its own revised figures predicting a fall of up to 0.5 percent. But the ministry said on Thursday that the original figure is correct according to its updated growth forecast. The European Commission on Wednesday announced it had begun action against the Czech Republic and either other EU states for exceeding the budget deficit limit of 3.0 percent limit of Gross Domestic Product. The deficit next year will be 5.5 percent if the finance ministry package is pushed through parliament.