Czech parliament approves bigger budget deficit in 2024 after floods By Reuters

PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech lower house approved expanding the 2024 budget deficit target to 282 billion crowns ($12.34 billion) to provide 30 billion crowns for flood relief after heavy rains devastated some towns in the regions along the border with Poland last month.

Lawmakers approved the budget amendment in a vote late Tuesday, with none opposing the amendment.

The government last week approved raising the deficit ceiling from an initial target of 252 billion kroner. It also plans to provide 10 billion kroner for flood damage in the 2025 budget, the deficit of which will be set at 241 billion kroner.

The center-right administration aims this year to bring the country’s general fiscal deficit, which also includes local governments and other institutions, below the European Union ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product.

It would be the first time it has met the target since 2019, when the budget was in surplus. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic and rising energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to increased spending to help those facing high energy bills.

Last month, heavy rains led to the worst flooding in Central Europe in at least two decades.

($1 = 22.8530 Czech crowns)