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By Goh Chin Lian
THIS year's Budget deficit is set to balloon to over $2.4 billion, triple the $800 million estimated by the Government in February.
Higher infrastructure costs, additional spending on measures to encourage more babies, and lower revenues collected were among the reasons Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam cited for the larger deficit.
He was replying to a question from Nominated MP Gautam Banerjee, who wanted to know whether estimates in the Budget presented to Parliament in February need to be revised in light of the global financial crisis.
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