PRAGUE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Czech government on Wednesday approved the draft state budget for 2019 with a deficit of 40 billion crowns (around 1.84 billion U.S. dollars), said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis after his cabinet's meeting.
The approved budget is 10 billion crowns less than the finance ministry originally proposed. The priorities of the budget are investments and growth of pensions and salaries in the state administration.
Czech Finance Minister Alena Schillerova said the draft budget for next year is "the maximum possible". She said the deficit made up 0.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). "Public finances as a whole have a surplus of 1.6 percent of the GDP and we estimate it at 1 percent next year," Schillerova said.
Babis said the budget is primarily dealing with the main strategy of Czech government, which are pensions and a rise in teachers' salaries. The government pushed through a pay rise wherever it was needed. Under the 2019 draft budget, the average old-age pension will increase by about 900 crowns a month. The teachers' base salaries are to rise by 10 percent as of next year and those of the security forces members by 2 percent, while their risk bonus is to increase by 2,000 crowns at least. The base pay of other employees paid from the state budget will rise by 5 percent.
Together with the state budget bill, Czech government on Wednesday also approved the accompanying regulations, such as on the pension rise and on the budget of the state housing fund.
