Finance Ministry estimates budget deficit at 73% - 76% of annual target

The budget deficit at the end of September is estimated to have widened to around three quarters of the recently revised annual plan, a senior Finance Ministry official said yesterday. Elzbieta Suchocka-Rogulska, head of the Ministry's budget department, said, "We estimate the budget deficit will likely come at between 73% and 76%." After the first eight months of the year, the budget deficit reached zl.20.96 billion, or 71.9% of the annual plan. In July Poland increased the 2001 government deficit target to zl.29.1 billion, or 3.9% of gross domestic product, to account for lower than expected State revenues. (Reuters)