Bauc: revised version of 2001 budget to be ready by mid-January

Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc said on Friday that the Polish government would present parliament with a revised version of the 2001 budget by mid-January, but the key decisions as to the shape of the amendments had not yet been made. He also told Reuters that it was still not clear whether receipts from the sale of third-generation mobile telephone licenses (UMTS) to GSM operators Era, Plus and Centertel would finance the budget deficit. According to him, they could be spent on financing science and education. Late last year Bauc said the 2001 budget deficit at 2.7% of GDP, or zl.$5.32 billion, would be lowered in line with revenues from these licenses. He added that last year's economic deficit could end up being far higher than the predicted 2.5% of GDP. In mid-2000 Bauc expected the economic gap to be around two percent. Bauc added that budget revenues fell short of expectations. He also said data on the deficit of local administrations, which are now being received, appear to show larger debt levels. (Reuters, Gazeta Wyborcza, 6-7 Jan., pp. 1, 23)