FinMin: It's important to behave responsibly

By adopting the correction mechanism for this year, the Government is sending a signal it wants to behave responsibly, said Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický (Smer-SD) following the Cabinet session on Wednesday. The Finance Ministry set the 2020 public-expenditure cap at €39.3 billion, which would equal a structural deficit of 0.5 percent of GDP. This is the expenditure cap that has been approved within the general government budget and that the public administration can spend this year. "There was a discussion on it, but I would like to thank cabinet members for behaving in a responsible manner and approving the correction mechanism," said Kamenický. Slovakia's central bank (NBS) Governor and ex-minister of finance Peter Kažimir stated that the adoption of the correction mechanism was 'just an episode in a big story on spending caps'. He is not concerned about interventions in individual budgetary chapters based on the correction mechanism's adoption.