VID to reduce the number of employees to save eight million euros

The State Revenue Service (VID) must reduce its expenses in the next year’s budget by 13.4 million euros, of which approximately eight million euros are planned to be saved by reducing the number of employees, VID Director General Baiba Šmite-Roķe told the “Kāpēc” program on “Delfi TV” on Wednesday, the 6th of August.

She explained that the government’s current position is for each ministry department to reduce expenses. “We have a large budget, and accordingly, expenses will have to be reduced a lot, and we are working on it carefully,” said VID Director General, indicating that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has instructed the VID to reduce expenses by 13.4 million euros. Of these, approximately eight million euros will be reduced directly in the salary budget.

To reduce expenses, the VID plans to lay off employees, however, Šmite-Roķe did not name the specific number of employees to be laid off, indicating that until the employees themselves have been told, this cannot be announced publicly. The number of employees to be laid off will be visible at the end of August, when the government will come up with the total amount of the reduction.

“This reduction in expenses is very severe, employees will also have to be laid off, we cannot find other types of expenses to reduce. This is not an easy decision, but it has to be made,” said the VID Director General.

Šmite-Roķe explained that her goal is for those people who stay to work, who are active, have initiative and come up with new ideas, not to feel the reduction in their salaries.

“So, we will not reduce salaries equally for everyone, but we will become more efficient,”

said the VID Director General.

Asked whether this will affect the capacity of the institution, Šmite-Roķe replied that in connection with the layoffs, discussions with heads of departments are currently reassessing which are the things that can be done smarter or not done. These are things that consume a lot of resources but do not contribute anything.

It has already been reported that, in accordance with the task given by the Cabinet of Ministers, the public sector must be streamlined and general government expenditure reduced by no less than 450 million euros in 2026-2028, including no less than 150 million euros in 2026. The financing obtained as a result of the streamlining and reduction of expenditure is planned to be primarily directed to financing defense and security expenditures, combining domestic fiscal measures and international loans. In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers decision stipulates that the increase in defense financing will be carried out so that the general government debt does not exceed 55% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

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