English Section

Polish MPs back revised 2020 budget amid virus crisis

08.10.2020 07:55
Polish MPs have backed plans to amend this year’s budget, with the deficit expected to reach PLN 109.3 billion (EUR 24.4 bn, USD 28.7 bn).
Image by piviso from Pixabay
Image by piviso from Pixabay Pixabay licence

Amid a coronavirus epidemic that has dented the economy, the lower house of parliament on Wednesday evening backed the revision with 232 deputies voting in favour, 218 against and one abstaining.

The amendment now goes to the Senate, the upper house, for debate.

Finance Minister Tadeusz Kościński said the aim of revising this year's budget was to allocate funds to further stimulate the economy after a crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government last year approved plans for an ambitious balanced 2020 budget. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the time said it would be the country’s first without a deficit since the fall of communism and the start of market reforms three decades ago.

That budget expected the economy to grow 3.7 percent in 2020.

Under the plans approved on Wednesday evening, the government expects Polish GDP to shrink 4.6 percent this year.

The Polish economy contracted 8.2 percent in the second quarter of 2020, according to the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS).

(pk)

Source: PAP