The Ministry of Transport will reduce administrative expenses by 8.6% next year, saving on bonuses and monetary incentives for employees, as well as on business trips. This was reported on Friday by the Minister of Transport Aitis Švinka (Progressives) at a meeting of the Saeima Budget and Finance (Tax) Committee.
In particular, it is planned to spend 5.799 million euros on employee rewards in 2026, which is only 40,000 euros less than this year; 1.792 million euros on goods and services (907,738 euros less), and 56,915 euros on capital expenditures (100,000 euros less).
The minister added that to find money, they will try to sell the state enterprise VAS “Latvijas autoceļu uzturētājs”, which is responsible for salting the roads. In the future, it is also planned to sell several buildings owned by the ministry.
A saving of 40,000 on salaries looks pale against the backdrop of the ministry's total budget for next year – nearly 800 million euros.
Deputies pointed out to the minister that several subordinate enterprises and institutions of the ministry could be merged to reduce expenses. Švinka did not dispute this. He reminded that work in this direction is already underway: recently, three subsidiaries of the state railway “Latvijas dzelzceļš” were merged, and it is also planned to merge the State Railway Technical Inspection and the State Railway Administration.
