Budget, Estonia, Financial Services

The revenue collected by the end of May accounts for 38.5% of the entire amount planned for the year 2010 while spending accounts for 37.8% of the year’s amount.

During the first five months of the year, the State’s operating expenses in total as well as the human resources spending have fallen while investments and the use of foreign aid has grown. State’s benefits paid to individuals, the private sector and to other Government authorities are on the same level as last year.

24.4 billion kroons of the five months’ spending from the State budget account for tax revenue while 8.1 billion kroons collected was non-tax revenue. The tax revenue forms 39.5% of the amount planned for the entire year while non-tax revenue forms 35.5%.

The biggest State budget spending articles in five months are main social benefits – 15.3 billion kroons. 2.4 billion kroons were spent on investments. The payments on investments in the first few months of the year were by 10% higher than in the past couple of years due to improvements in the use of foreign aid.

The Ministry of Finance estimated that the Government sector budget deficit by the end of April was 5.1 billion kroons or 2.39% of the projected GDP of the year 2010. The budgetary position in the beginning of the year was among other things adversely affected by the stockpiling of reserves in goods subject to excise taxes at the end of last year. In comparison to the ministry’s spring economic outlook, the four months’ budget deficit is in compliance with the expectations.