Estonian govt to continue budget discussion at Vihula Manor on Monday

TALLINN - The Estonian government is set to continue deliberation of the budgetary strategy for 2020-2023 and the draft of the state budget for 2020 at Vihula Manor on Monday.

At the 2020-2023 budgetary strategy discussion on Thursday, the government received an overview of the additional requests of the areas of governance of ministries and the additional needs of the IT field, government spokespeople said.

The government will continue discussing the budgetary strategy and next year's budget at Vihula Manor in West-Viru County on Monday morning. The discussion will also continue on Tuesday.

The budgetary strategy draws together the objectives of the government, the plans and activities of ministries and the funding of them for the next four years. Its purpose is to plan activities and money in the longer term, taking into account the government's priorities, future outlooks and global trends.

The budgetary strategy for the next four years is drawn up every spring and the government usually approves it at the end of April. In the years of scheduled general elections, the government usually endorses the strategy by the end of May.

The state budget for 2020 is drawn up separately. In accordance with the amendments to the State Budget Act passed in 2017, 2019 is the first year when the budgetary strategy and the state budget bill are drawn up simultaneously. 

Like the budgetary strategy, the bill of the state budget for next year has to get the government's nod by the end of May. If necessary, the government will continue talks on the state budget in the fall based on the summer economic forecast. The Riigikogu handles the state budget bill in the fall.