The finance minister on Thursday ordered €73,692,000 transferred from RMK to the 2022 state budget, following a corresponding proposal from the environment minister. RMK paid €65,990,000 into state proceeds in 2020 for the previous record.

Kaupo Raag, chief analyst at the ministry's state property department, said that the dividend payment is larger than before because RMK's net profit exceeded forecasts. "Profit was estimated at €27.5 in the organization's 2021 budget, while it came in at €79 million for an increase of more than €50 million," Raag said.

He added that the dividend sum depends on RMK's profit, liquidity and potential changes to logging volumes. "The recent increase follows changes in the price of timber and effective economic activity, while felling volumes had no part last year," Raag said. RMK sold 3.83 million cubic meters of timber in 2021, down 0.17 million cubic meters from the year before.

Raag suggested that RMK's 2022 dividend payment was planned at €32.7 million, with the Thursday sum constituting an increase of €41 million. "Income tax is added to the dividend, which hikes the gross sum (dividend plus tax) by €50 million. In other words, by as much as the net profit grew compared to forecasts."

The ministry representative said that RMK still enjoys high liquidity. "RMK will continue to contribute to the state budget in the future and plans to contribute €75 million in dividend next year," Raag said.

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