Poland’s 2019 budget designed to ensure inclusive growth: finance minister

Teresa Czerwińska was speaking after Polish deputies on Wednesday approved the country’s budget for this year, which expects the economy to grow a healthy 3.8 percent, with inflation targeted at 2.3 percent.

Czerwińska told reporters after the parliamentary vote that the budget drafted by Poland’s conservative government was geared toward boosting the country’s development while ensuring that broad sections of the public could benefit from an expanding economy.

She also said that the budget ensured 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, in addition to subsidised pharmaceuticals for senior citizens and planned new benefits for mothers of four and more children.

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.

The Polish government this year plans to begin paying out special minimum pensions to mothers of four or more children.

Under the bill approved by MPs in Warsaw on Wednesday, Poland's budget deficit is expected to be no more than PLN 28.5 billion (EUR 6.6 billion, USD 7.6 billion) this year, and the target for the general government deficit is 1.7 percent of GDP.

Government revenue is expected to total PLN 387.6 billion in 2019, with spending set at PLN 416.1 billion.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP