Prime Minister Michal: Supplementary budget possible this year
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said the government may adopt a positive or negative supplementary budget this year to adjust state spending and keep finances within a 4.5 percent framework.
"It all depends on what the picture looks like — we'll take a look. We can reduce spending, make cuts — do all of that — while still staying within the framework. This by no means rules out reallocations this year. Reallocations are needed this year as well. Possibly in the spring, possibly in the fall," Michal said in an ERR radio broadcast.
"It could also be a positive supplementary budget. Call it whatever you like — a supplementary budget is a supplementary budget. And next year, spending will have to be kept within the 4.5 percent framework in any case," he added.
According to Michal, he does not envy forecasters because no one can really assess what the situation actually looks like.
He recalled that in 2024, Estonia's budget deficit was expected to be nearly 3 percent but ended up at around 1.7 percent. "We managed things €600 million better and more frugally," he said.
In 2025, the deficit was expected to be minus 3 percent, but it came in at 1.3 percent. Estonia managed its finances €800 million to €900 million more efficiently, Michal added.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Argo Ideon
Source: ERR interview by Mirko Ojakivi and Arp Müller
