Prague- In a vote seen as an endorsement of Prime Minister Jan Fischer's caretaker government, the Czech parliament's lower house on Thursday approved an austerity package aimed at narrowing the country's budget gap. Lawmakers passed the measure 163-26 after days of intense negotiations and bitter squabbling over various proposals.
The package is to squeeze the deficit to 162.8 billion koruna (9.5 billion dollars), or 5.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, Finance Minister Eduard Janota said before the vote.
Without the package, the deficit would swell to 7.4 per cent of GDP, which could threaten the Czech Republic's public finances, the Finance Ministry had warned. kza ay ncs
251059 GMT Sep 09
