Budget, Estonia, Financial Services, Taxation

Proposals for cuts, including freezes in the payrolls of government institutions and saving on administration costs, are central to the plan of Finance Minister Sven Sester to balance off the budget. No pay rises are envisaged, except for in cases where an institution can do it using internal reserves. Each area of government is supposed to save approximately one% on administration and operating expenses.

Other ministers are not happy with the finance minister' plan, and requests of ministries for additional funding have not even been discussed. At present, all the requests have been shelved on the grounds that there is no extra money to be distributed. The requests will be discussed on Tuesday when the Cabinet is due to hold a marathon sitting on the state budget.

It may turn out that reducing costs proportionally item line after item line is not enough to bridge the gap. Sester reportedly has made some proposals with that scenario in mind, which allegedly have to do with things that have been mentioned as potential sources of additional income earlier and which now are tabled complete with analyses and calculations. What exactly they are about, politicians are refusing to say, Eesti Paevaleht said.