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Polish gov't approves preliminary budget for 2019

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 21.08.2018 14:20
Poland’s government on Tuesday adopted a preliminary draft budget for 2019, which expects the economy to grow a healthy 3.8 percent, with inflation targeted at 2.3 percent.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday. Photo: PAP/Leszek SzymańskiPolish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

The country’s budget deficit is expected to be no more than PLN 28.5 billion (EUR 6.6 billion, USD 7.6 billion) next year, and the target for the general government deficit is 1.8 percent of GDP, the PAP news agency reported.

Government revenue is expected to total PLN 386.9 billion in 2019, with spending set at PLN 415.4 billion.

The budget is geared toward boosting the country’s economic development and ensures full financing for the government’s key social assistance projects, including its flagship "500-plus" child benefit programme and subsidised school supplies for children nationwide, officials have said.

With its "500-plus" programme, Poland’s socially conservative government aims to ease the burdens of child rearing by giving families with two or more children a handout of PLN 500 (USD 133, EUR 116) a month per child.

Poorer families receive the allowance even if they have just one child.

Meanwhile, the government’s "Good Start" programme aims to subsidise the purchase of school supplies for children by offering parents a handout of PLN 300 for every child before the start of each school year.

(gs)

Source: PAP/IAR

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