This week, the Saeima's budget commission reviewed the budgets of the ministries; the deputies will begin to "dissect" the actual budget in the commission only next week.
No Cuts, But Additions
Representatives of all ministries unanimously assured that they intend to significantly reduce administrative expenses. Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens stated in a cover letter to the Saeima that, firstly, there are plans to freeze the salary growth of elected officials, and secondly, to cut 600 jobs in public administration!
However, questions regarding the cuts remain. More precisely, there are more questions than answers. It is unclear who the Ministry of Finance included in the list of elected officials — only the Prime Minister, ministers, heads of independent structures (the Attorney General, the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the head of the anti-corruption bureau, the Chairman of the State Audit Office, etc.)? Or also the President, the Speaker of the Saeima, and Saeima deputies?
In any case, so far, the leaders of the parliament have not stated that the salaries of public servants will be frozen next year. Let us recall that a year ago, parliamentarians threatened to freeze their salaries starting this year, but then... they suddenly changed their minds and decided that their salaries would increase by the same amount as in public administration — that is, by no more than 2.6%. However, it turned out that in some public structures, salaries again increased by 4-7 percent, but... these are all "trivialities."
It is interesting how it will be this time? In any case, it has not been stated anywhere that officials will have their salaries frozen. To be fair, it should be noted that the bonus funds in the ministries have indeed been cut, and additional payments will also be reduced. But whether the growth of the salaries themselves will be frozen is unknown.
Again, "Dead Souls"?
As for the promise to cut 600 jobs in public administration, once again, it would be nice to understand whether it concerns the reduction of actual employees or just the elimination of vacant positions.
As previously reported, representatives of the business community demanded to cut the expenditure part of the budget-2026 by 850 million. As a result, it was possible to reduce the budget expenditures by a total of 233.4 million. It is clear that such a minor reduction (considering the total expenditures of 17.9 billion) did not eradicate the budget deficit — it will amount to 3.3% of GDP. Notably, the increase in allocations for defense occurred mainly due to loans and an increase in the amount of dividend payments to the treasury by state enterprises. This means that the national debt will continue to grow rapidly.
But perhaps not all is lost — even the ruling deputies promised this time to approach the budget law not formally, but substantively and to consider the possibility of additional cuts in administrative expenses. We will see if the public servants keep their word...
