Eleven-month budget deficit deepens to CZK 30.92bn. Czech state budget reported CZK 30.92bn (EUR 1,105mn) deficit at end-November, thus deepening from the CZK 12.67bn deficit registered at end-October and CZK 200mn worth of surplus at end-Nov/2005, the finance ministry announced. Budget revenues reached CZK 821.23bn, translating to 6.7% y/y increase, of which tax revenues added 2.1% y/y to CZK 414.91bn. The expenditures expanded by 10.7% y/y, reaching CZK 852.15bn. In November alone, the state collected revenues worth CZK 72.47bn, up by 9.1% y/y, while the monthly expenditures amounted to CZK 90.72bn, growing by 11.4% y/y. Because of the tax cuts since the beginning of 2006, the government collected 5.3% y/y less from corporate income tax compared to the 12.2% y/y expected decline, which confirms the solid grounds of the Czech economy performance. Furthermore, individuals’ income tax revenues decreased by 3.6% y/y (2.6% y/y expected decline) to CZK 80.63bn. On the other hand, both VAT and excise duties revenues continued to post strong growth rates, thus suggesting some consumption acceleration. Despite the fact that the payments to pensioners grew by 8.6% y/y to CZK 248.74bn, the pension account reported CZK 51.12bn worth of surplus for the first time this year. In addition, the state budget execution was characterised by CZK 40.8bn worth of payments to the social and health insurance funds of which some CZK 5.5bn in extraordinary payments made to the General Health Insurance Company (VZP); in addition, the Czech Republic contributed CZK 24bn to the EU budget, while it received CZK 19.3bn, up by 50.1% y/y. We note that the approved for 2006 state budget gap at CZK 74.4bn reckons on CZK 884.4bn revenues and CZK 958.8bn expenditures, while the new government has proposed that the state budget ends at CZK 83.7bn deficit, which represents some 12.5% overshooting of plans, partially due to additional money reportedly needed for paying all pensioners their pensions at year-end. The latter seems meaningless in view of the significant surplus reported in the pension account at end-November.
December 04, 2006