The changes to the 2007 and the draft budget for 2008 that the government is to discuss in the coming days, will keep the budget deficit at around 1% (SIT 73bn/EUR 305.26m) of Slovenia's GDP, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk told the press on Thursday.
Bajuk also stressed that the value added tax (VAT) rates will definitely not have to be changed in 2007, but could be later on.
He confirmed that the ministry received an opinion on the tax reform proposal, which states that the current fiscal and spending policy could increase the budgetary hole by SIT 110bn (EUR 460m).
The opinion was written by Janez Sustarsic, the head of the government Institute for Macroeconomic Analysis and Investment (IMAD) and Andrej Horvat, state secretary at the government Development Office.
"We regard the opinion as a working document," said Bajuk.
He added that revenues from some taxes even surpassed government's plans in drafting the 2006 budget, Bajuk added, explaining that corporate tax revenues were assessed at SIT 146bn (EUR 610.52m), but will in fact stand at SIT 220bn (EUR 920m).
Sustarsic meanwhile explained that the purpose of the letter, a copy of which found its way to the Wednesday's edition of the daily Delo, was meant to "facilitate debate and get a clear picture of public finance in the next year".
The opinion was based on old data but now new information is already at hand, and IMAD expects to up its assessment on the growth of the Slovenian economy, Sustersic explained.
In its guidelines for drafting changes to the budget in 2007 and the draft budget for 2008, adopted by the cabinet in July, the government projected the budget deficit at 1% of the GDP.
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