Polish MPs at the end of last week backed plans to amend this year’s budget, with the deficit expected to be no more than PLN 40.4 billion (EUR 8.7 bn, USD 10.1 bn), less than half of the initial target of PLN 82.3 billion, state news agency PAP reported.
Government revenue is expected to total PLN 483 billion in 2021, with spending set at PLN 523.4 billion, under the revised financial plan approved by the lower house of Poland's parliament late on Friday.
Meanwhile, the country’s gross domestic product is seen growing 4.9 percent this year, and inflation is seen averaging at 4.3 percent in 2021, up from a previous target of 1.8 percent, the PAP news agency PAP.
The lower house approved the revision with 236 deputies voting in favour, 65 against and 149 abstaining.
The bill now goes to the upper house, the Senate, for further debate.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last month that his government would increase spending on various policy areas, including health and roads, amid higher-than-expected budget revenues this year.
Morawiecki told reporters at the time that the Cabinet had decided to update the 2021 budget because some PLN 80 billion (EUR 17.3 billion) more than expected had flowed into public coffers.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Photo: PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik
The extra revenue is mainly due to “anti-crisis measures, good performance of businesses and sound budgetary policy,” Morawiecki told a news conference.
He announced that the government would pour an additional PLN 1 billion into the healthcare system to be be spent on medical procedures, staff salaries and medical universities.
Meanwhile, public sector workers are set to receive higher bonuses, he added, while an extra PLN 10 billion will be spent on roads and railway lines, Morawiecki told reporters.
The Cabinet has also set aside PLN 4 billion for local governments and earmarked fresh funds for new disability policy measures and projects in water supply and sewerage management as well as farming, according to Morawiecki.
(gs)
Source: PAP, TVP Info