BRATISLAVA, September 11, (WEBNOVINY) — The government has been unable to incorporate more spending cuts in the consolidation package to improve public finances because of a shortage of time, said Finance Minister Ivan Miklos (SDKU). „I also think it is possible to save more on the expenditure side of the budget, but we cannot save more so that this could translate into the state budget and public budgets for next year. The process has its own deadlines,“ said Miklos in a Saturday afternoon debate program on the public Slovak Radio. The government’s consolidation package should consist of approximately 900 million euros of spending cuts. The remaining 800 million euros are measures, which the people will feel in their wallets, for example, increased VAT rate, or cancellation of various tax exemptions. Miklos admitted that in future years the government wants to save more for on government consumption and less on measures that would affect people’s wallets. „I hereby announce that we will pay permanent attention to a very careful analysis of efficiency of spending and identification of reserves,“ Miklos said.
Former State Secretary, Ministry of Finance and now opposition SMER-SD deputy Peter Kazimir is very skeptical of the plan. „After six weeks of hesitation, the coalition produced a package of modesty that should be fulfilled in terms of revenue, but the public and journalists have not learned anything about spending cuts,“ said Kazimir. He noted that initially the coalition spoke about the consolidation package to be composed of spending cuts and increased revenue at a 2:1 ratio and now it is approaching 1:1. According to Miklos, the originally mentioned ratio was not a commitment of the coalition, but was referred to as the ideal model.
Miklos claims that the state general government finances in Slovakia is at the level of Greece and denies that the deficit at the European Union average. „The inherited state of public finances is regrettable,“ said Miklos. Kazimir does not agree with the conclusions of the minister. According to him, Miklos plays the legend of scorched earth, which they (the coalition) are playing now, would go farm it. “ „Its aim is to hide the embarrassing development of the consolidation plan,“ said Kazimir, who asks that if what Miklos says is true, why rating agencies are not downgrading Slovakia’s rating.
SITA