Estonian Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev suggested floating the company coordinating the Rail Baltica railway project, RB Rail, on the stock exchange to raise more funds amidst rising construction costs, ERR reports. Construction costs in Estonia alone are estimated at EUR 3.1bn, with EUR 1.2bn secured from EU funding. Võrklaev said that the government expected to have…
Estonia’s Ministry of Finance plans to issue bonds specifically for Estonian citizens for the first time, allowing small investors to benefit from a fixed interest rate and trade the bonds on the Nasdaq Tallinn stock exchange, ERR reports. Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev says that the aim is to diversify the state’s funding sources and provide…
The Estonian government plans to split the state-owned energy group, Eesti Energia, into three separate companies, Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev announced, ERR reports. He said that the plan was to list shares of network operator Elektrilevi and renewable energy producer Enefit Green on the stock exchange. However, Võrklaev said that he was no longer in…
The Estonian government has approved draft legislation to introduce an annual car tax and a vehicle registration fee, ERR reports. Under the plan, the new law will enter into force as of 2025. The amount of the car tax and the registration fee will depend on the vehicle’s emissions and age as well as weight…
The Estonian government has agreed on the state budget for 2024, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced, ERR reports. Under the agreement, the government will introduce no new taxes in addition to ones implemented earlier. The government will not impose a new tax on commercial banks, which will instead pay more taxable dividends. Also, the government…
The state budget control select committee of Estonia’s parliament, the Riigikogu, held an extraordinary session on 8 August 2023 to discuss a controversy over alleged “horse trading” by the Office of the President, ERR reports. Earlier, presidential adviser Toomas Sildam had an informal discussion with Merike Saks, secretary general of the Ministry of Finance, in…
Due to a budgeting mistake, Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research will have insufficient funds to finance the transition to Estonian-language education in Russian-language schools in 2024 and beyond, ERR reports. The former government allocated the same amount of funds (EUR 41mn) for switching to Estonian-language tuition for each year in 2024-2026 as for September-December…
Data available on state financial support to Estonian companies are incomplete and thus less usable, according to an analysis by the National Audit Office (Riigikontroll), ERR reports. Märt Loite, auditor general at Riigikontroll’s analysis department, sent a note to Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev (Reform), highlighting concerns regarding the integrity and usability of the data. In…