The deficit of the struggling state budget in January came to EUR 17.74 million according to figures released by the Ministry of Finance this week.
This does not fare as good as January 2010, when the budget posted a surplus of almost EUR 23 million. Although in January 2011 budget receipts were up 3.75% over January 201o, on the expenditure side the growth was over 9%, hence the worse figures. Some have criticised finance minister Ivan Miklos for the higher expenditures.
If everything goes to plan, the ministry projects the deficit for the whole of 2011 to be in the range of EUR 3.8 billion.