Budget revenue is planned to stand at EUR 17.98 billion, up by 5.9% or by EUR 1 billion from the 2024 budget, while expenditure at EUR 23.02 billion, rising by 11.7% from the budget or by EUR 2.4 billion.
The finance minister said that the draft budget is focused on three priorities set for the Government’s term of office: raising people’s incomes, boosting security and investing in Lithuania’s future.
"Most of the spending go to commitments that come from legislation. This is indexation, which is programmed in the law. Social security takes the lion’s share of that," said Skaistė told the Government’s sitting on Wednesday.
The finance minister noted that the Maastricht criteria is still in effect, thus the EU member states, including Lithuania, will have to keep budget deficit below 3% of GDP and debt-to-GDP ratio below 60%.
The Finance Ministry projects that Lithuania’s GDP will grow by 2.9% in 2025, inflation will stand at 2.5%, unemployment at 7.1% and average wage growth at 7.6%.
Furthermore, value added tax (VAT) is projected to bring EUR 6.83 billion in revenue to the state budget, personal income tax – EUR 3.39 billion, EU and other financial support – EUR 2.44 billion, excise duties – EUR 2.18 billion and corporate income tax – EUR 1.81 billion.
If the draft of the budget is approved, other revenue would amount to EUR 802 million, while other taxes would bring EUR 448 million in revenue.
It is planned that, compared with the previous budget, revenue from VAT would grow by EUR 185 million, from personal income tax by EUR 545 million and from excise duties by EUR 321 million.
The Ministry of Defence’s funding with the defence fund will exceed EUR 2.5 billion (3.03% of GDP). The fund alone will stand at EUR 240 million, according to the budget plan.
Meanwhile, it is planned to allocate EUR 1.9 billion for raising people’s income, including income of the employed, aid to the most vulnerable social groups, old-age pension raise, as well as higher wages for teachers and doctors.
Investments for Lithuania’s future will amount to EUR 3.6 billion: EUR 1.7 billion for green transformation, EUR 263 million for education innovations, EUR 206 million for science, business and innovation, EUR 147 million for digital transformation.
EUR 784 million will be earmarked for road maintenance and repairs, compared with EUR 715 million allocated for 2024.
Municipal revenue is projected to increase by 14.2% in 2025 to EUR 6.67 billion.
In addition, revenue of the State Social Insurance Fund Board (Sodra) is planned to stand at EUR 8.64 billion, by 13.09% or EUR 1 billion more than projected in 2024. Its expenditure is planned at EUR 7.9 billion, by 11.9% or EUR 0.84 billion more than in 2024.
EUR 909 million will be allocated for recreation, culture and religion, EUR 678 million for housing and communal infrastructure, EUR 438 million for environmental protection.