Analyst: Slovak State Budget Deficit Growing

Bratislava, September 1 (TASR) - The state budget deficit reached €667.6 million in August and was about €200 million higher than in the eighth month of last year, chief economist at CSOB bank Marek Gabris stated in a commentary on the data on the development of the state budget in August 2025 published by the Finance Ministry. For the last three months, monthly deficits have been rising, exceeding the deficits for the months of June, July and August a year ago. Thus, despite better results in the first five months, the cumulative deficit is slowly catching up to the values of 2024. According to him, the January-August 2025 deficit has gradually risen to €4.3 billion (€4.65 billion in 2024). The result for the eight months thus already amounts to almost 69 percent of the full-year plan. A year ago, the deficit against the plan was only about 61 percent, and against the deficit reality finally achieved, it was 73 percent. Total revenue is at 54.7 percent of the planned budget, compared to 58.1 percent of the plan for the eight months a year ago. The largest part of revenue is tax revenue, which is highly dependent on the health of the economy. The tax revenue is at 59 percent of the January-August plan, compared with almost 63 percent a year ago. According to the analyst, the situation is being slightly improved by the somewhat lower spending against the plan so far compared to the first eight months of 2024 (57.2 percent versus 58.9 percent of the planned budget). am