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At the end of June, Poland's budget deficit stood at zł.36.8 billion, zł.4.6 billion lower than what had been planned in this year's budget.

In the first half of the year, revenues were worth zł.114.2 billion, just shy of the zł.116.2 billion planned.

The smaller deficit was thus the result of lower-than-expected spending. In the year to June, zł.151 billion was spent from the state budget, while the government had budgeted for zł.157.5 billion in expenditures.

Revenue from tax on goods and services was zł.5 billion higher than for H1 2009, while income tax revenue fell zł.1 billion and corporate tax fell zł.3.5 billion over the same period.

“The tax income should concern the Finance Ministry,” Andrzej Wernik of the Academy of Finance in Warsaw told daily Parkiet.

Meanwhile, chief economist at bank BGŻ Dariusz Wink said the decrease in personal income tax going into the state budget is normal, due to higher unemployment rates than last year.

The Finance Ministry had planned the budget deficit at zł.52.2 billion, but a few months ago, both economists and the government calculated that it could be 10-15 percent less than that as the Polish economy is growing faster than expected.

Poland A.M.