Ministry of Finance: Next year's state budget more transparent than predecessors

Next year's state budget more transparent than predecessors, Photo: Sander Ilvest

The Estonian Finance Ministry said in a press release on Friday that the state budget for 2025 provides a more comprehensive overview of the recipients of funding and the purpose of funding than the state budgets for the previous years.

In addition, in the explanatory memorandum to the state budget, an explanation can be found concerning the basis on which legal entities receive money from the budget. Augmented data will allow more organizations to compete for grants.

«In Annex 3 of the explanatory memorandum, 'Proposed grants to legal entities by area of government and program,' the names of the beneficiary organizations whose names and grant amounts are known at the time of the drafting of the state budget can be found. As an innovation, it also provides the references on the basis of which the subsidies are distributed,» Regina Vällik, head of the financial service of the state budget department, pointed out in the press release.

While the annex to the 2024 state budget only showed known subsidies, the 2025 annex has been augmented to include all subsidies. This change improves the transparency of the state budget bill and also provides an understanding of the items for which budget funds are used. Simply listing the names of recipients would not allow understanding the purpose for which the subsidy is intended.

Subsidies for which the recipients are not known will be distributed through application rounds or competitions held throughout the year. For such subsidies, the table shows the purpose or target group of the subsidy. This allows for transparent distribution of subsidies and gives all interested parties the opportunity to compete for the subsidy.

The Finance Ministry has made adjustments to the list of grants provided to legal entities based on suggestions from various parties, including from the auditor general.

Information about the payouts made since 2021 can be found on the dashboard. The data underlying the dashboard reflect sector transactions with legal entities, and the information is updated on an ongoing basis. The aim of publishing this data is to increase the transparency of general government expenditures. Payment information is intended for consumers, as well as for investigative agencies in the fight against corruption, and for auditors monitoring the use of grants or the execution of public procurements, to provide an overview of the parties that services are purchased from and the amounts paid, as well as of the beneficiaries of subsidies.