Finance minister: state budget development meets expectations

In related news, Finance Minister Eduard Janota said on Sunday the development of the state budget met expectations in the first two months of 2010. Mr Janota told Czech TV it was too early to make draw any conclusions but that available data do not suggest any serious problems should occur. The only issue, according to the Czech finance minister, is the decreasing revenues from social insurance, undermined by growing unemployment. By the end of February, the deficit of the state budged was 10.6 billion crowns, while the overall deficit of Czech public finances in 2010 is expected to reach some 160 billion crowns, or more than 8.6 billion US dollars.