Czech state running 76-billion-crown deficit by end of July

At the end of July, the Czech state was running a deficit of 76.2 billion crowns (4.04 billion USD), which is nearly double the deficit approved in the budget for the whole of 2009. At this time last year, the Czech state was 9.3 billion crowns (518 million USD) in the black, according to the Finance Ministry, which released the new statistics on Monday. This year’s budget, as approved by Parliament, envisages a deficit of 38.3 billion crowns. According to Finance Minister Eduard Janota, however, the economic crisis has meant that a deficit of around 165 billion crowns is now expected in 2009.