Deficit lowered as budget changes pass

Eventually expenditures will stand at zł.308.9 billion marking a decrease of over zł.1.5 billion, while revenues will amount to zł.281.8 billion - zł.35.3 billion of which will be obtained from the EU. Most of the changes relate to lowering budgets of state organizations, institutions and ministries. "Most of all we secured funds for fulfilling social demands, which mainly means increasing the wages of teachers. We also signalled that we will be aiming at lowering the budget deficit and balancing the state budget. Apart from this, we stressed that the new government's priorities are road and railway investments," said Zbigniew Chlebowski, head of Civic Platform's (PO) Parliamentary Club, emphasizing that this is not a document of dreams due to the short time available for its preparation. According to Law and Justice (PiS) there were plenty of mistakes made during the drafting of the budget, and as a result it was more spoiled than improved. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. B1, B2) M.M.