It will probably be necessary to adjust this year’s budget as there is no doubt that the government has concealed the state of its finances in recent months; the budget gap will be bigger than announced – said KO MP Katarzyna Lubnauer in the third program of Polish Radio.
In Polish Radio’s Program III, Lubnauer was asked when the tax-free amount of PLN 60,000 could be introduced. PLN per year – one of the demands of the Civic Coalition. In response, the KO MP pointed out that the priority was to increase teachers and the budget sector; as she said, they would be introduced at the beginning of the new year.
Changes to next year’s budget?
Let us not forget that what will be carried out next and at what pace will depend on when the mission of forming a government will be entrusted. I would like to remind you that the government that is leaving now will leave Poland without a budget for 2024
– Lubnauer noted.
We do not have an approved budget and if the president tries to buy time, the time to adopt a new budget for Poland will become shorter. We also have a situation in which we will probably have to adjust the budget for 2023, because everything indicates that the gap will be larger than the government previously announced.
– she said.
The MP stated that the budget gap “will not prevent us from fulfilling our obligations”.
However, we have no doubt that this government, for example, concealed the state of affairs months before the elections – because the information on revenues was delayed compared to the period when it was always provided in previous months.
– she added.
As the documents of the EU institutions show, it is clear that the state’s debts are much higher than those reported by the government – because they then also have to prove the expenditure hidden in BGK or in other places.
– said Lubnauer.
She added that extrabudgetary resources should remain under public control, as is the case, for example, with the National Health Fund.
When asked whether this means that the government reports different data to the EU than it presents publicly, the MP confirmed.
For a very simple reason. (…) The situation is that budget expenditure, or for example NFZ expenditure, is under social control. However, other funds, such as the Covid Fund or others outside the budget, are not under social control because they are not under the control of the (Parliament – PAP) Public Finance Committee.
– she added, pointing out the lack of information about the loan from South Korea in connection with the purchase of weapons by Poland.
Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska referred to the state of the Polish state budget in an interview with PAP on Thursday.
Poland’s public finances are transparent, as regularly reported by Poland, audited by EU institutions and independent rating agencies. There is absolutely no hiding anything. Public finances are also in a more than decent situation for post-COVID times, given the energy crisis and the war on our eastern border.
– she said.
The state of the state finances
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in turn, assured that the next government will inherit a budget in good condition.
In better shape than anyone could have expected after the pandemic, the energy crisis or the Russian aggression against our neighboring country
– he pointed out.
During the PO era, public debt to GDP (the only measure recognized by the markets) increased by 7.5 percentage points. My government, despite the pandemic and the war, has reduced the national debt by 3.6 percentage points to GDP. As a result, compared to other European countries, we are next to the economic Netherlands
– said the Prime Minister in a post on Facebook.
Morawiecki emphasized that “our debt is relatively lower than that of Germany, Austria or France.”
Not to mention Greek, Italian or Spanish. We are talking about the debts of the public financial sector, which covers everything – absolutely everything: the budget, local governments, the Social Insurance Fund, extra-budgetary funds, i.e. the so-called “hidden” debts, as the more nervous Platform activists and ‘experts’ call it. By the way, it would be difficult to ‘hide’ it, because we report it and are held responsible by the European Commission and rating agencies. It’s a taste. This data is published regularly
– he emphasized.
Threatening a state financial apocalypse is not a new tool used in the opposition’s narrative. However, it is surprising that in the era of international financial supervision of various institutions and rating agencies, a parliamentarian can suspect the government of hiding billions in budget funds for months.
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Source: wPolityce