Czech parliament approves higher 2024 budget deficit after floods

Czech parliament approves higher 2024 budget deficit after floods

The Czech lower house has approved widening the 2024 budget deficit target to 282 billion crowns ($12.34 billion) to provide 30 billion crowns for flood aid after heavy rains last month devastated some towns in regions along the Polish border.

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

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

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

It would be the first time it hit the goal since 2019, when the budget was in a surplus. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in energy prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine that led to increased spending to aid those grappling with high power bills.

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