State to transfer €584 million from last year's budget to this one
The Ministry of Finance will carry over €584 million from the 2024 state budget into the 2025 state budget. In total, approximately €2.27 billion from last year's budget went unused.
At its Monday session, the Riigikogu State Budget Control Select Committee discussed the supplementary budget bill and the scope of unused 2024 budget funds being carried over.
Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform) said during the session that the Ministry of Finance will transfer €584.131 million into this year's budget — €162.094 million less than was carried over into last year's budget.
According to Ligi, €1.13 billion in budgetary limits will be opened from unspent revenue, about half of which stems from CO2 emissions trading income.
However, the total amount of unspent funds is larger than the sum of those two figures. Regina Vällik, head of the finance department at the Ministry of Finance, explained that statutory or legally mandated expenditure surpluses are not carried over because some of those funds have already been planned into the 2025 budget.
"Approximately €2.27 billion went unused from last year," Vällik clarified regarding the amount left unspent from the 2024 budget.
Ligi stressed that there is no surplus in the budget — rather, there is a deficit and every amount carried over has a designated purpose.
"We found it reasonable to stick to the existing spending cuts outlined in this supplementary budget and to continue with activities the state needs, also using the amounts being carried over," the finance minister said.
Of the €584 million being carried over, €32 million is earmarked for labor costs, €135 million for operating expenses, such as procurements and outsourced research and development projects, and €208 million for grants, primarily project-based funding distributed externally. The rest is made up of investment or other expenditures — the latter primarily tied to state secrets.
Vällik noted that the main drivers of budget carryovers are procurement processes and investments. For example, when procurements are contested, their timelines are pushed back because suppliers are unable to deliver services within the agreed timeframe.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Marcus Turovski
