PM says lay-offs or salary cuts inevitable in public sector

Some civil servants may lose their jobs due to the government's proposed two percent cut in public sector funding, Prime Minister Petr Fiala acknowledged in an interview for Czech Television on Thursday evening. However, he argued that it would be up to the individual ministries and state institutions to decide how they were going to save the money. He said the options were not to replace people who go into retirement, agree on slightly lower salaries for all or slash whole departments and relegate their tasks to others. The government wants to save 20 billion crowns in the public sector by cutting back on salaries and operating costs.