Slovak government plans fourfold rise in deficit to battle coronavirus

Slovakia's government approved on Wednesday a more than fourfold increase in the 2020 budget deficit target, to 11.95 billion euros, to factor in the costs of tackling the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The target is up from an originally expected gap of 2.77 billion euros, according to documents on the government website.


Reuters | Bratislava | Updated: 08-07-2020 16:25 IST | Created: 08-07-2020 16:22 IST
Slovak government plans fourfold rise in deficit to battle coronavirus
Representative image Image Credit: ANI
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  • Slovak Republic

Slovakia's government approved on Wednesday a more than fourfold increase in the 2020 budget deficit target, to 11.95 billion euros, to factor in the costs of tackling the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The target is up from an originally expected gap of 2.77 billion euros, according to documents on the government website. The previous largest gap in records going back to 2006 was a deficit of 4.5 billion euros in 2010, just after the global financial crisis. Slovakia, a member of the euro zone, forecasts an economic contraction of 9.8%, larger than previous falls and undoing years of growth.

However, the small central European nation of 5.5 million people has avoided the avalanche of COVID-19 cases reported by many other European countries since the pandemic hit in March. It had reported 1,798 cases and 28 deaths as of Tuesday. The approved budget plan sees an extra 7.8 billion euros in spending this year, with 4.9 billion euros directly tied to the pandemic, such as business relief. It also sees a new 1.4 billion euro hole in tax income.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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