The Austrian Parliament on Thursday passed a 66.17 billion euro (85 billion dollar) budget for 2006, including a deficit of 2.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The deficit was within the 3 per cent of GDP rule set by the Maastricht criteria for euro currency countries. The budget passed on votes from Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's centre right coalition. Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser said the deficit is actually lower, at only 1.7 per cent of GDP, taking into consideration paybacks from the nine Austrian provinces. The largest item is the social affairs budget, with 14.8 billion euros, which represent a 2.8 per cent increase. ---SP 2236 Local Time 1936 GMT
