The government will fail to have 6 to 7 billion crowns to pay people their pensions and sickness benefits by the end of the year and will borrow part of the money from the Ceska posta state-owned post company, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes. 

Officers of the Finance Ministry and Labour Ministry confirmed to the paper that it is nearly certain that at the end of the year the state coffers will lack about 4 billion for pensions and 2-3 billion crowns for sickness benefits. 

"The money for pensions will be gained through savings in the payment of the state debt and partly through a bridging loan from the Ceska posta company," Deputy Finance Minister Eduard Janota told MfD. 

The paper recalls that the government decided to solve the situation last year in this way when it borrowed money from Ceska posta as well. However, the loan is not for free and will cost the government tens of millions of crowns in sanction interests, the paper writes. 

According to the daily, one of the reasons of the lack of money is that the government does not solve past debts and pushes them forward. Moreover, the volume of finances needed for new pensions has been increasing unexpectedly. There have been 70,000 new pensioners since the beginning of the year in the 10-million country. Some 246 billion crowns will be paid out in pensions in total this year, MfD writes. 

The lack of money for sickness benefits is connected with flu and the attempts of deputies to gain funds for their own election districts. Last year, the deputies used half a billion crowns earmarked for sickness benefits, the paper says. 
As the deputies did the same thing this year, there will be no money for flu next year again, the paper points out. 

But the Labour Ministry will supply the finances necessary for sickness benefit payments from other areas where it saved money, for example from the funds for unemployment benefits, MfD writes. 
($1=24.727 crowns)