BELGIAN PUBLIC SPENDING DEFICIT FALLS IN MAY
Belgium's public expenditure deficit
fell sharply to 59.5 billion francs in May from 96.7 billion in
the same month last year, the first major sign of the effects
of the government's public spending curbs, the Budget Ministry
said.
    During the first five months of this year, the net
government financing requirement was down by 44.1 billion
francs from year ago levels at 345.8 billion francs, it said in
a statement.
    The government is aiming to cut this year's financing
requirement to below 420 billion francs this year from around
560 billion in 1986.
    The Ministry said it was expected that more than half the
projected cut should have been achieved by the end of July.
    Ministry sources noted that for technical reasons, the
financing requirement is always highest in the early months of
the year.
 REUTER
