By Jozef Tvardzík

Copyright sme

Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický (Smer), when presenting the third wave of fiscal consolidation, repeatedly claimed that the poor state of public finances was the fault of the governments of Eduard Heger, Igor Matovič and Ľudovít Ódor, who, in his words, “recklessly squandered €3.7 billion”.

He also argued that the Smer government under Peter Pellegrini, which ended in March 2020, had reduced public debt and handed over the state budget with a deficit of just 1.2 percent of GDP.

“These scoundrels then drove it back into the stratosphere and set both debt and deficit on course for further growth. And of course, once again, who has to clean up after them? Robert Fico’s government,” Kamenický declared, pointing to a photograph of his political opponents.

Also pictured was MEP Ľudovít Ódor of Progressive Slovakia, who served as head of the caretaker government from May to October 2023. Ódor shot back, pointing out that since Kamenický had taken office the national debt had increased by a further €13 billion: “A man who has been in office for two years has done nothing about the deficit, yet blames everyone else.”

Index, a business magazine, confronted Kamenický’s claims with actual data on the evolution of Slovakia’s national debt, the budget deficit and the long-term sustainability of public finances. The conclusion is clear: his “theses” are, diplomatically put, deliberately taken out of context.

Focusing on gross debt

One measure of the health of public finances is gross debt – the total liabilities of the public sector in the form of bonds, treasury bills and loans.