Final Word from Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Finance Min. Zbyněk Stanjura told Právo last week that the cabinet of course sees the need for additional budget expenditures as a result of the war in Ukraine and that an amendment will be submitted to Parliament in July. There are too many unknowns now, he said, but there will be time between now and then to do the calculations and to make an informed decision. He didn't mention it, but one of the biggest unknowns is whether Russian deliveries of natural gas to Europe will be halted or substantially curtailed. In its 10-point plan with Poland and Slovenia, the Czech cabinet calls for cutting off all Russian banks from Swift. In case there were any doubts about what this meant, Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki added that the three countries want to cut off payments for oil, gas and coal as soon as possible. If this is official Czech policy, the related costs should be reflected in Stanjura's budget amendment. It will presumably be one of the biggest line items in Czech budgetary history. [ Czech Republic war payments system ]
Glossary of difficult words
to curtail - to reduce in extent or quantity; to impose a restriction on;
line item - a single part of a financial statement, esp. one giving details of the accounts of a company or government.