The specified budget draft will return to the parliament in a few weeks – the second hearing is planned for Dec. 7 ahead of adoption on Dec. 12.
Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis says that changes of the budget draft are inevitable but minimum.
The Budget and Finance Committee, which discussed the budget draft in extensive detail, has proposed that the cabinet’s projected revenue from sales of farmland should be directed towards maintenance and reconstruction of melioration equipment and maintenance of the polder system in the Šilutė district. The committee also highlighted the need for additional funding of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The 2018 budget revenue is projected at 16.082 billion euros, accounting for 37 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), as compared with 35.8 percent this year, while spending should total at 15.839 billion euros or 36.4 percent of the GDP (35.7 pct in 2017).