Government ministries must be prepared to make spending cuts to the tune of â¬60 million next year, finance minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (Reform) says.
Pentus-Rosimannus comments follow state budget strategy discussions which have been going on this week, involving the two coalition parties, Center and Reform, who have not been seeing eye-to-eye on all aspects of the negotiations.
The finance minister told daily Postimees that: We had a difficult partner at the negotiations, who very clearly stood for its own cause, and did so very strongly. I believe that ultimately a good compromise is one where nobody leaves rejoicing, and that s how things have been with the state budget strategy too, she said.
State credit agency KredEx made a total of €475 million available to Estonian companies in 2020, a fourfold increase on the previous year at a time when the coronavirus pandemic was making its effects known.
KredEx issued its annual report where it noted the increase in monies issued – up from €117 million in 2019 – and said that its volumes rose in all areas of its activities, including new surety and loan services drawn up due to the pandemic.
KredEx s largest sums went to shipping line Tallink (€100 million), fuel company Alexela (€37 million) and real estate project Porto Franco – which at nearly €40 million proved the most controversial deal.
The government says it plans to merge two of its state agencies which deal primarily with business and trade.
State credit agency KredEx, and Enterprise Estonia, which focuses on innovation, trade, foreign investment and the e-state, are the two bodies set to be made one, public administration minister Jaak Aab (Center) said Friday. According to substantive analysis, this shape of things emerges. Whether one roof should be set up and functions placed under it. We are looking at what the substantive overlap [between the two state agencies] is, and how they can be reorganized. There is also some shaking down of these institutions. Dusting them off, and ways to get them to work better, Aab said.
The government is soon to decide on the future of a substantial Tallinn property which at one time was earmarked as a presidential residence, which would have replaced Kadriorg.
The status of the property, known as the Liberty manor complex in the Rocca al Mare district of western Tallinn, is up for review during impending state budget strategy talks, the Ministry of Finance told BNS.
Reports in February 2014 said that the state real estate authority, the RKAS, was negotiating with the Office of the President – the incumbent was Toomas Hendrik Ilves – to relocate to the Liberty manor site, near the Open Air Museum (Vabaõhumuuseum)
The government has decided to direct â¬340 million from the European Union Just Transition Fund to Ida-Viru County in its entirety, as a measure towards climate-neutral economy goals. â¬250 million will go on investments and creating new jobs and building industrial parks. Oil shale entrepreneurs are skeptical about the plans, however-
At the end of December, the previous coalition decided to widen the target area of the Just Transition Fund s money. Neighboring counties of the Ida-Viru county could have claimed on the â¬340 million. The new coalition decided to continue with the preliminary plan, however.
Minister of Public Administration, Jaak Aab (Center), said that the government will make a decision in the upcoming weeks to not apply for extending the territory on which the money from the Just Transition Fund will be used, and the money will continue to go entirely to Ida-Viru County.