Last week, a number of ministers said that the cuts from the supplementary budget would become clear this week.

As of Tuesday, the Ministry of Economy and Communications, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, and the Ministry of the Interior have announced the size of the cut in their respective areas of responsibility.

The Ministry of Defense is not affected by the planned cuts.

For the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the negative supplementary budget means a cut of around €13 million. More than €5.5 million of this will have to be saved by the Enterprise and Innovation Foundation (EISA).

Minister of Enterprise and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo (Eesti 200) said that the cut in his administration is more than €12.9 million, but the budget for the MKM administration is much higher at €1.4 billion.

Social Affairs Minister Signe Riisalo (Reform) said last week that just over €10 million will have to be cut in the social affairs ministry. However, according to Riisalo, the savings in the Social Insurance Board (SKA) are negligible compared to their total budget.

In a letter sent to staff on May 28, SKA director general, Maret Maripuu, said that cuts of €1.27 million to social services, including child rehabilitation and special care.

The Ministry of Regional Policy and Agriculture said that they will have to find savings of around €4 million this year. The breakdown of savings is mainly based on reductions in operating expenditure across all government departments (-1.9 percent), reductions in the volume of additional requests from the previous year (-10 percent) and reductions in R&D expenditure (-4.9 percent).

The Ministry of Interior is facing a one-off cut of €3 million.

Tarmo Miilits, the undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, said last week that the ministry is likely to take most of the carry-over funds from the cut that it has saved in the past to redirect to the development needs of its own sector. In addition, the ministry is delaying IT developments, extending the life cycle of technology, and reducing personnel costs. This affects both staff performance pay and bonus schemes.

Also, as of the beginning of June, the Ministry of the Interior will have three undersecretaries instead of four, and the ministry has decided not to fill vacant posts this year.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said last week on the broadcast "Otse uudistemajast" that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will partially reduce funding for projects in Ukraine, but it will not reduce funding for foundations.

The supplementary budget does not directly affect the Ministry of Defense, but it has pledged to increase ammunition purchases at the expense of personnel and economic expenditures. "It is worth recalling that already last year we reorganized the Ministry's remit to the tune of €34 million over four years, and we have also channeled this money into the purchase of additional ammunition," said Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform).

Other ministries said they would be able to give more precise figures once the government had approved the supplementary budget.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!