Slovakia with public deficit at 6.2% in 2020

Slovakia recorded a deficit of 6.2 percent of GDP in the last year under the pall of the coronavirus crisis, according to the 2020 final report submitted by the Finance Ministry and approved by the Government. The report pointed out that all EU countries ended up in the red in 2020, with the average deficit equalling 6.9 percent of GDP. The original 2020 budget plan, passed in December 2019, expected the deficit to stand at 0.49 percent of GDP and economic growth of 2.3 percent. Originally, the deficit cap was approved at €2.7 billion. An amendment to the State Budget Act, in effect as of August 5, 2020, increased the cap by €9.1 billion to €11.9 billion, revised in accordance with the estimated shrinking of the economy in the midst of the coronavirus crisis in 2020 by 9.8 percent. The quantified impacts of the pandemic on public finances under the European System of Accounts 2010 methodology is only preliminary, warns the Finance Ministry.