Austria's finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser gestures during his
presentation of the budget for 2003 and 2004 to the parliament in
Vienna May 7, 2003. Austria's budget deficit for 2003 will rise to 1.3
percent of gross domestic product (GDP), about double the 2002 level,
Grasser confirmed, blaming the increase on factors including delayed
costs from catastrophic floods last August and a sluggish economy.
REUTERS/Herwig Prammer

PR/CRB