Prague, Dec 18 (IANS): Czech President Petr Pavel announced that he had signed the 2025 state budget with a deficit of 241 billion crowns (10.1 billion USD).

Pavel said on social media platform X that he had deliberated extensively before signing the budget and the decision was not easy, Xinhua news agency reported.

The president said he had negotiated with Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura, who gave him "their personal guarantees" that the deficit would not exceed the planned limits and that the Budget Responsibility Act would not be breached.

The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, approved the state budget for 2025 earlier this month. Compared to this year's amended budget, the deficit will decrease by 41 billion crowns, with revenues projected to rise by 146 billion crowns and expenditures by 105 billion crowns, according to the Ministry of Finance.

"Thanks to the approved budget, we will be able to invest at a record level next year, primarily in the construction of roads, highways and railways, but also in education, science and research. All these investments have a common goal -- to support economic growth and, with it, the growth of citizens' wages," Fiala said on X.

The draft budget, which was approved by the government and the Chamber of Deputies, faced criticism both from opposition MPs and leading economists, including the president's own economic adviser David Marek. It came under fire over unclear revenue estimates, particularly from emissions permit sales, and funding for non-teaching staff salaries in schools.

Stanjura emphasised that the budget has fulfilled the government's main priorities. (1 USD = 23.87 Czech crowns)