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The state budget deficit is expected to reach 4.749 billion this year. 159,436 million euros. EUR (3.5%) more than in the approved budget (EUR 4.589 million).
The cost of a pandemic
Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė told the government meeting that the fight against the pandemic has its price, so this year the general government deficit should reach 8.4 percent. gross domestic product (GDP), 1.4 points more than in the approved budget.
According to the minister, the state debt, which amounted to 47.3 percent at the end of last year. GDP is expected to grow at 52.3 percent this year and stabilize at 58.1 percent in 2023 and 2024. GDP.
“Our goal is not to exceed 60 percent. The limits of the Maastricht criterion”, – stated G. Skaistė.
Individual benefits
The government has supported a proposal to pay an additional benefit of € 28.63 from July for the poorest single elderly and the disabled. The amendments will be presented to the Seimas.
The benefit would be equivalent to the widow’s pension and would amount to € 32 from next year and would be paid to all elderly single and disabled people, regardless of whether they are widows, divorced or have never started a family.
This means that widows would receive, as before, a widow’s pension and, for example, those who divorced or did not form a family would receive the same amount of benefit.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė hopes the new measure will reduce poverty in Lithuania.
“I find the statistics to be ruthless in that regard; it shows very clearly that these groups step out of the general context in a very significant way and it is clear that targeted support to that group can not only give the group the best result, but also overall result significantly. to improve ”, – said I. Šimonytė.
Social Security and Labor Minister Monika Navickienė said Thursday that some 60,000 people would receive an additional benefit this year. more than 20,000 people will already receive a single person benefit or a widow’s pension of EUR 32 from 2022. people.
Increase doctors’ salaries
It is proposed to allocate nearly $ 75 million more to salary supplements for doctors fighting pandemics this year. euros.
It was agreed that the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (PSDF) would receive an additional 48.5 million euros from the state budget. 26.2 million euros. EUR of previously foreseen funds for healthcare services.
According to the Ministry of Health (SAM), the PSDF budget provided for a salary increase of 45.6 million. euros.
These funds were used to reimburse costs for November and December 2020 and January and part of February this year. The remainder of the February expenditure was offset by the fund’s main reserve, which had € 27.7 million remaining at the end of April. euros.
The ministry predicts that these amounts would be sufficient only for the salary compensation for March and part of April. The quarantine is supposed to last a total of six months this year.
At the government meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Živilė Simonaitytė said that since November, nearly 75 million LTL has already been paid for medical salaries. euros. An estimated 120 million will be needed from the PSDF budget this year. 75 million euros are provided in the state budget. euros.
Parental benefits
The government supported the proposal of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor to be more favorable for parents whose insured income decreased due to downtime during the pandemic to calculate maternity, paternity and childcare benefits.
These benefits will be calculated from the period prior to the announcement of the first quarantine. This also applies to all self-employed persons whose income has decreased during quarantine.
“The challenges of the pandemic inevitably affected the country’s working population, part of their income decreased.
We hope that the benefits will be calculated more favorably for parents whose income decreased during the pandemic due to financial difficulties to protect families raising their children, ”says Monika Navickienė, Minister of Social Security and Labor.
Since the start of the first quarantine, workers have spent an average of 27 days in downtime.
The ministry estimates, for example, that if a pregnant worker with an average salary spent 27 days in downtime, her maternity benefit would drop by just over 4%. If employees spend more time on downtime, the impact of downtime on profits would be proportionally greater.
The amount of maternity, paternity and childcare benefits is normally calculated on the basis of the insured income that the person receives during the 12 calendar months prior to the month in which the right to these benefits arose.
For example, the acquisition of rights in 2020 As of June 1, 2019, the 2019 insured income is calculated. May 1 to 2020 April 30
For parents who have been declared downtime during a pandemic and the downtime period or part of it falls within the benefit calculation period, benefits will be calculated from the period before the quarantine announcement.
For them, the amounts of maternity, paternity and childcare benefits would be calculated based on the insured income of 2019. February 1 to January 31 2020
Compared to the overall calculated benefit, the benefit calculated based on pre-quarantine income will be awarded to parents for a more favorable period.
For the self-employed, maternity, paternity and childcare benefits will be calculated from 2019. February 1 to January 2020 31 income received for which Sodra contributions were paid.
Compared to the overall calculated benefit, the benefit calculated based on pre-quarantine income will be awarded to parents for a more favorable period.
People who have already been granted maternity, paternity and childcare benefits must request their new calculation from the Sodra territorial branch for 2022 at the latest. January 1 The difference will be transferred to the personal account no later than 2022. February 28
If the Seimas approves the amendments to the Law on Social Security for Sickness and Maternity, 5,000 beneficiaries of benefits who have already been granted lower benefits and some 5,000 people who will still be granted these benefits will be entitled to higher benefits of maternity, paternity and childcare. The changes would take effect in 2021. November 1
Reduced maternity, paternity and childcare benefits as a result of the pandemic will be reimbursed out of the state budget. The estimated need for funds is about 8 million. euros.
Estimated income
The amount of financial aid from the EU and other international types that is expected to be received is increased by 513,568 million. EUR (22.7%) to EUR 2.777 million. Financial support from the EU and other countries for the acquisition of expenses and assets increased by 117,616 million euros. EUR (3.8%) to EUR 3.18 billion. (2,264 million euros and 3,063 million euros in the approved budget).
The revised draft budget indicates that the deficit of the public administrations will reach 8.4% this year. Gross domestic product (GDP) – 1.4 points more than in the approved budget.
The fiscal income of the state budget forecast for this year increases by 41,995 million. EUR (0.5%) to EUR 8457 million. of which personal income tax – 60,974 million. EUR (3.3%) to EUR 1.9 billion. 33,352 million euros in income tax. EUR (4.7%) to EUR 750.097 million. euros.
At that time, revenue from value added tax (VAT) decreased by 65,331 million. EUR (1.1%) to EUR 5.667 million. euros.
VAT revenue will decrease
Expected VAT revenues are being reduced by adjusting the assumptions for deferred payments, a lower growth forecast for human consumption spending, and a future temporary VAT relief for restaurant, sports and cultural services.
The funds to overcome the pandemic are increased by 581.3 million. of which EUR 467.2 million in the government reserve. Most of these funds are earmarked for health (265.3 million euros) and social security (238.5 million euros). The remaining almost 78 million. € 1 billion has been earmarked for other institutions.
It is also planned to allocate 15.3 million. universal lump sum for a single person.
It is planned to reduce the government’s net debt limit by 185.2 million. EUR (4.6%) to EUR 3,843 million. euros.
The revised state budget project will be published in the Seimas legal framework and will be considered by the government on Friday.
