Finance ministry to publish €12.9bn deficit budget proposal

Finland’s Ministry of Finance will publish its proposal for next year’s state budget in full on Thursday, Yle reports.

The proposal, prepared during internal negotiations at the ministry, includes a deficit of €12.9 billion. The budget’s total expenditure is set at €92.2 billion.

Finance Minister Riikka Purra of the Finns Party presented the proposal at a news conference on Tuesday. She said Finland’s emerging economic growth would have no significant impact on next year’s budget, citing the chronically weak state of public finances and a continued lack of room for manoeuvre.

Purra said the proposal contained no surprises and included only previously agreed adjustment measures. It also maintains plans to cut the corporate tax rate from 20% to 18%.

The government will review the proposal at its budget session in a month. It will then submit the budget proposal to Parliament.