Finance minister opens talks on draft state budget

Finance Minister Andrej Babiš has opened negotiations with fellow members of the Cabinet on the state budget for 2017, meeting with the justice, environment and culture ministers. The draft budget is counting on a deficit of 60 billion crowns next year. The bill includes pay rise for teachers, nurses and doctors, higher pensions and higher health insurance payments that the state pays on behalf of children, pensioners and the unemployed. Justice Minister Robert Pelikán told journalists after talks with Mr Babiš that his ministry would get additional 650 million crowns that would be used for increased salaries of court personnel and the hiring of new staff in the judicial sector and the Prison Service. Pelikán originally wanted two billion crowns more in the budget.

The government must approve the budget bill and send it to the lower house of parliament by the end of September.