Sejm committee starts voting on amendments to 2004 budget

A proposed amendment to the 2004 budget envisages a reduction in public expenditure of over zł. 1.1 billion. Stanisław Stec (SLD), Deputy chairman of the Sejm Public Finances Commission (KFP), the author of the proposal, said that all administration expenditure should be cut to 102% of the planed 2003 level. Accepting such an amendment would mean that expenditure would not grow in real terms, as the annual CPI has been set at 2%. According to the government's budget, public expenditure would be over zł. 7.6 billion in 2004, compared to zł. 6.3 billion in 2003, which represents a growth of 20%. KFP will begin voting on the amendments on Wednesday and, according to Mieczysław Czerniawski, an independent Deputy, if all amendments are accepted, in order to keep to the 2004 budget, the government would have to increase revenues by about zł. 2 billion. (www.onet.pl; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 20) M.M.