Latvia’s next year’s budget expenditures may reach EUR 16.1 billion, said Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens at a press-conference held on Tuesday, the 26th of September. He also said the government is ahead of the usual budget development schedule.
The second stage of the budget formation process is over. The funding of EUR 783.5 million approved on Tuesday for new government programmes and priorities was initially planned to review in the government on the 29th of September, but it was done three days earlier.
Ašeradens stressed that the approved priorities correspond to the ones mentioned in the government declaration –
security, healthcare and education.
The minister reminded that ministries have submitted funding requests equal to approximately EUR 2 billion, but the actual budget can only finance priorities worth EUR 783.5 million.
Ašeradens mentioned among some of the priority sectors lined up for additional funding the budget of the Ministry of Transport and financing for Latvian Railway, as well as the budget of the Ministry of Climate and Energy. At the same time, he also stressed that the government has EUR 1.2 billion in reserve from EU funds. This is why he also invited a more active implementation of projects co-financed by Europe.
The minister added that at the moment
“Latvia’s economy is holding up surprisingly well”,
which is why he is optimistic about next year.
As previously reported, the Latvian government has agreed on three main priorities – security, education and health. These three areas will receive financing of EUR 443.6 million. Together with single-time investments from outside the fiscal space the total funding amount reaches EUR 486.6 million. Security will receive EUR 91.9 million, education – EUR 119.7 million, and healthcare – EUR 275 million.
It is also reported that on Tuesday the government also supported multiple tax policy proposals listed in the informative report on the progress of the development of the state tax policy guidelines for 2024-2027 developed by the Ministry of Finance. These are planned to be adopted together with the budget for 2024.
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