Minister of Finance Toomas Toniste (IRL) said that increased economic growth, which is increasing revenues to the state budget, should not mean an increase in expenditures.
“My wish is that next year, when revenues increase, we do not increase spending,” Toniste said at the government press conference. “This will generate additional funds and we will approach a balanced budget.”
Prime Minister Juri Ratas (Center) said that he believed that the government and the public sector must draw up the state budget based on the fundamentals of economics and finance, one of the most important indicators of which was indeed economic growth.
At the same time, he continued, the real situation, i.e. essential expenses, cannot be forgotten either, including crucial investments in roads, additional financial allocations to the Estonian Health Insurance Fund in order to shorten patient waiting lists and defense investments.
Minister of Health and Labor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) said that, in the long term and as a whole, Estonia’s finances were currently in very good shape, among the best in the EU. (ERR/Business World Magazine)