Education, roads given additional funds

Side by side with various other allocations, education and subsidies constitute some of the biggest expenses in the 1,06 million kroon (67.9 million euro) supplementary budget for 2003.

The biggest expense items are 143 million kroons to support the 21st century school program and to bring the study environment in schools into conformity with modern requirements.

One hundred seven million kroons will be allocated to local governments to cover a deficit in subsistence allowances.

Renovation of state highways and roads will receive an allocation of 55 million kroons at the expense of a Nordic Investment Bank loan, another 44.4 million kroons will be earmarked for SAPARD cofinancing, and 40 million kroons will be spent on subsidies for disabled people.

Also, the government is planning to allocate 20 million kroons to the electoral committee for the organization of the EU referendum.

Of the total expected revenue in the supplementary budget, 144.5 million kroons will be spent to bring the government sector budget back into balance, while "fixed expenses" require 145.1 million kroons.

As a result, the supplementary budget will be able to meet the ministries' applications to the tune of 764 million kroons, although they were filed for a total of 1.5 billion kroons.