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PRAGUE, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said on Monday his government would use all legal ways to prevent the 2010 budget gap from rising above 5.3 percent of gross domestic product.
The parliament approved last week the next year's budget including leftist parties' changes estimated to cost an extra 12 billion crowns, and threatening to effectively hike the total public sector gap to 5.9 percent of GDP.
"At this situation the government will use all possibilities given by law to keep the budget deficit at the planned level of 5.3 percent," Fischer told reporters.
Fischer said the cabinet's plan to rein in the gap includes
a 5.1 billion crown income from the majority state-owned power
utility CEZ That expenditure is not included in the calculation of the
public sector deficit according to the EU harmonised ESA 95
methodology. A total of 3.1 billion crowns will be saved in individual
chapters of the budget, while another 4.0 billion will be tied
up in a safety buffer from individual chapters, Fischer said. The Finance Minister Eduard Janota will sumbit on Jan 10 a
proposal for spending that can be tied up in the buffer fund. The government will evaluate the situation by the mid 2010
and may release the retained funds if the situation allows for
it, Fischer said. The additional spending -- on public sector wages, social
spending and farm subsidies -- were pushed through by the
leading leftist party the Social Democrats against the will of
the technocrat government.
(Reporting by Robert Mueller, writing by Jana Mlcochova,
editing by Ron Askew)