Poland adopts deficit-curbing 2014 budget

Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's parliament on Friday adopted a 2014 budget aimed at reining in spending, but the deficit will still fall wide of the European Union's limit.

The public deficit is forecast to hit 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, down from the 4.1 percent forecast for this year.

Brussels recently gave Warsaw until 2015 to reel in the deficit to the 3.0 percent of GDP limit set under the EU's Maastricht Treaty.

Approved by 235 votes against 213, the budget forecasts growth to hit 2.5 percent next year, with average annual inflation at 2.4 percent.

The deficit is forecast at nearly 48 billion zloty (11 billion euros, $16 billion), with revenues of around 277 billion zloty and spending totalling 325 billion zloty.

A controversial pension reform introduced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centre-right government will account for part of next year's lower deficit.

It will also keep the public debt under the level mandated by the constitution that would trigger automatic spending cuts.

A country of 38 million people, Poland was the only EU state to maintain growth throughout the 2008 global economic crisis.

The government expects GDP to expand by 1.5 percent this year after 1.9 percent in 2012 and 4.3 percent in 2011.

The forecast for 2015 is 3.8 percent, followed by 4.3 percent in 2016 and 2017.