According to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, one of the priorities of the 2021 budget is the abolition of the super gross wage. In practice, this would mean far more money for employees. They would have a lower income tax, which would increase their net earnings. According to economists, the state budget will lose about 100 billion crowns a year.
Another priority next year, according to the Prime Minister, is to increase pensions. Babiš has long advocated the addition of five hundred crowns a month. During the year, retirees would improve by six thousand. This has been supported in the past by both the Social Democrats and the Communists.
According to the Prime Minister, in order for the state coffers to be able to afford such an addition, it is also necessary to proceed with savings within individual ministries.
According to Babiš, another priority of the budget is also investment. Today, Minister Alena Schilleerová therefore invited Minister of Transport and Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček to the Ministry. In the transport sector, it is said that there is a need to finance the railways more next year.
It is not yet clear what the budget deficit the Ministry of Finance is counting on next year.
Does he want to top Kalousek?
According to economist Lukáš Kovanda, the drawdown of the COVID III program announced by the government is slow and at this rate it would be exhausted in 22 years. So far, companies have not had to apply for money thanks to other support programs. According to Kovanda, this could change in the autumn and next year, when the support programs run out.
According to the economist, it is important for the Prime Minister that the total level of public finance debt in the Czech Republic does not exceed the level of 2013, when Babiš joined the government as Minister of Finance. At that time, public debt was 44.9% of GDP, and next year it could reach 41%.
“If Babiš managed to keep his debt at such levels, ie lower than where he was in 2013, he will be able to celebrate a political victory. In the sense that he will be able to claim that he managed the coronavirus crisis better, with less debt growth than its predecessors, especially the former Minister of Finance Miroslav Kalousek, managed the global financial crisis and its consequences, “said Kovanda.
“In addition, a substantial part of the loyal supporters of the YES movement and its leader Andrej Babiš are already expressing concern in the sense that if the state” gives too much “to others, such as the self-employed, entrepreneurs or companies, In the coming period, to reconcile with a lower increase in old-age pensions or salaries of employees in the non-business sphere, “the economist added, adding that therefore COVID III type programs are not very” sweeping “and are being used slowly by companies.
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