Finland Times

The government on Thursday said it had reached a decision on next year’s budget.

It proposed an additional debt of half a billion euros. This will bring the total state debt in next year to 4.5 billion euros.


Prime Minister Alexander Stubb tweeted at around 5.30 pm that a decision had been reached on the budget negotiations.

Earlier, according to the knowledge of news agency STT, the much-debated proposal to move up the compulsory school-leaving age agreed during the March spending talks had been abandoned. In March it was agreed to extend the age to 17 years at an annual cost of 15 million euros. It has now been agreed that more funding will be allocated to support primary schools, such as to recruit resource teachers.

The government is also understood to have raised the limit of families with children eligible for tax deduction on child benefit cuts. This will see more families including middle-income ones becoming eligible for the tax break. During the so-called “mini budget negotiations”, the scheme was estimated to have an annual outlay of 70 million euros.

Earlier, Finance Minister Antti Rinne had proposed a 10-euro raise for low- and middle-income pensioners. The proposal is thought to have triggered opposition from other partners in the government.

The police budget will not be subject to further cuts next year. Instead, it will be allocated an additional 6.5 million euros.