Government to send supplementary budget to Riigikogu on Thursday
The government hopes to submit the completed supplementary budget to the Riigikogu on Thursday. It will be worth at least €600 million and mainly financed by loan money.
Minister of Finance Keit-Pentus Rosimannus (Reform) told ERR the cabinet will discuss the details of the budget on Tuesday and will hopefully approve it on Thursday.
The minister said that the volume of the budget is €600 million, and could potentially even reach €700 million.
How much needs to be borrowed can be answered after the new economic forecast, Pentus said.
"With the 2021 budget, we have a mandate to use up to €8 billion in loans this year. These are limits we certainly do not want to change," she added.
"But the budget depends on the economy, how long it will take for the economy to recover. And the loan load also depends on this. In the current economic climate, the supplementary budget can be carried out using loan money."
Regardless of the supplementary budget, short-term bonds are likely to be used at the end of March. Pentus-Rosimannus said this is normal state cash flow management. "It had been originally planned for earlier this year, but since the need didn't arise in January-February, it is likely to be used at the end of March," the minister explained.
Speaking about possible cuts, Pentus-Rosimannus said the current government wants to avoid the situation encountered during the preparation of the previous supplementary budget additional costs unrelated to the crisis were included.
"The supplementary budget must be effective, mitigation measures are temporary and as targeted as possible. Direct cuts should not be related to areas where it is already very difficult," she said. "It is impossible that in the midst of a crisis, when the health care needs more support and also receives more support from the supplementary budget, that we make cuts in these very fragile sectors."
In the first half of this year, €60 million can be used from the government's reserve fund and it was planned to use this money for testing and vaccination costs. Now, these costs will be moved to the supplementary budget so the reserve fund can be used for other expenses.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino
