Senate rejects amendment to lower budget deficit

In this case, budget revenues will amount to zł. 153.5 billion, instead of zł. 154.5 billion which was accepted by the Sejm, while expenditures will reach zł. 198.8 billion, instead of zł. 199.8 billion, as deputies had wished. This means that the budget deficit still amounts to zł. 45.3 billion. Additional money for reducing the deficit would come from transferring 15% of funds from the special financial means, which total about zł. 4.3 billion in 2004. The Senate has voted for spending zł. 100 million on the National Health Fund (NFZ) instead of reducing the budget deficit. Senator Jerzy Markowski, head of the Senate Finances and Economy Commission, stated that Prime Minister Leszek Miller requested accepting this change. (www.onet.pl) M.M.