State budget deficit drops to 69 billion by end of July

The deficit of the state budget decreased to 69 billion crowns, or more than 3.6 billion US dollars, by the end of July, the Czech Finance Ministry said on Monday. The deficit dropped from 75.7 billion crowns registered in June. Last July, the deficit reached 76.2 billion crowns. The state budget for the whole of 2010 has been approved with a deficit of 162.9 billion crowns. The ministry said lower capital expenditures of the state in 2010 were a major factor behind the decrease.