ZURICH (Reuters) - Newly appointed Austrian Finance Minister Hartwig Loeger said he wants to present a combined budget for the years 2018 and 2019, with savings of around 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion) next year.
"The structural deficit will be at around 0.5 percent next year," Loeger, a former insurance industry executive, was quoted as saying in an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard.
He said that in order to reach a balanced budget "at the earliest within the next two to three years", Austria would have to save around 2.5 billion euros next year.
Earlier this month, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz formed a new government which included the anti-immigration Freedom Party.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Alison Williams)
