Jiří Rusnok is a former finance minister, prime minister of a caretaker government and governor of the Czech National Bank. Shortly after the turn of the millennium he also served as a member of parliament and as a minister.[1][2]
Statements in October 2026
In a podcast of the E15 portal, Rusnok called the government's plan to reduce public finance deficits "completely unconvincing". Regarding the draft budget for 2027 with a deficit of 386 billion crowns, he said that it would be necessary to intervene on both the expenditure and the revenue side. The podcast was published on 2 October 2026.[2]
In the Sunday debate of Czech Television, which iDNES.cz described on 4 October 2026, Rusnok criticised the one-off allowance of two thousand crowns for pensioners as a populist gesture. In his view, the roughly five billion crowns that the allowance is to cost could pay for several homes for seniors, whose capacity, by his estimate, will be short by 30 to 40 thousand places in the next ten to fifteen years.[3][4]
In the same debate, according to FORUM 24, he said that mutual animosity among members of parliament had grown, and when comparing responsibility for the growth of the state debt, he said that the current and the previous government "can shake hands".[1]
Sources
- FORUM 24
- E15 — 2 October 2026
- Novinky.cz
- iDNES.cz — 4 October 2026