Government approves 2004 state budget

The government has approved next year's state budget. The final version envisages a deficit of 115 billion crowns, less than the originally proposed figure of 118 billion. The cabinet also allotted an extra 8 billion crowns which the Finance Ministry found in its reserves. The extra money will go towards the education system, agriculture, transport infrastructure and scientific research. Cabinet ministers originally demanded 40 billion on top of the previously approved budget framework. Finance Minister Bohumil Sobotka said the budget was directly linked with a package of fiscal reform proposals and is dependent on those reforms being approved by parliament.