In the vote on Thursday, the three-year budget plan was backed by 114 MPs, with one MP opposing and 16 MPs abstaining.
MP Valius Ąžuolas of the Farmers and Greens (LVŽS) was the only to have voted against the draft budget plan while his seven party colleagues abstained along with eight liberals and a non-attached MP.
Following some adjustments made by the Government, the budget bill for 2025 sets out the revenue at EUR 17.98 billion, while budget expenditure rises to nearly EUR 23.10 billion. Compared with the initial draft, expenditure went up by EUR 78.5 million.
The 2025 budget revenue is projected to rise by 5.9% or EUR 1 billion from the 2024 budget revenue. The expenditure should grow by 11.7% or over EUR 2.4 billion compared to this year’s budget.
The general government debt will amount to around 44% of GDP (43.2% in the first draft), while the general government deficit is projected to be 3% of GDP, the ceiling set by the Maastricht convergence criteria.
The Government on Wednesday decided to support two proposals from MPs at the total value of EUR 700 thousand. Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius said approval of other proposals would have led to exceeding the 3% deficit ceiling.
The Cabinet of Ministers backed Seimas Speaker Saulius Skvernelis’ proposal to raise allocations to the Office of the Seimas by EUR 250,000 for events celebrating the 35th anniversary of Lithuania’s independence.
The Government also gave the green light to MP Raimondas Šukys’ proposal to increase the allocations to the Ministry of Justice by EUR 454,000 for 2025, by EUR 590,000 for 2026 and EUR 726,000 in 2027. The additional funds will be used to raise wages of the healthcare staff of the Prison Service.
The Seimas also agreed to these proposals by consensus.
The MPs also approved Skvernelis’ proposal to provide an additional EUR 300,000 for the wage bill of the staff of the Office of the Seimas in 2025. 108 MPs voted in favour of this proposal.
In total, MPs’ proposals valued at nearly EUR 2 billion were rejected due to the budget deficit at almost 3% threshold.