start of the autumn session. The budget is adopted in a plenary session of Parliament in December. If
essential needs to revise the adopted budget arise, supplementary budget proposals can be presented to
Parliament. In general, the same procedures are applied in formulating supplementary budget proposals
as in formulating the budget.
Table 1 – Government budgetary expenditure by administrative sectors in the financial accounts and State
Budget, EUR million
g
2002 2003 2004 2004 2005 2006
(proposal)
- Parliament 84 111 94 8 97 104
- The President of the Republic of Finland 6 7 9 101 9 11
- Cabinet Office (Council of State) 37 45 49 48 49 73
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs 698 709 778 766 826 895
- Ministry of Justice 570 641 671 671 662 693
- Ministry of the Interior 1 302 1 419 1 425 1 443 1 507 1 546
- Ministry of Defence 1 712 2 006 2 131 2 073 2 149 2 274
- Ministry of Finance 5 455 4 987 5 113 5 345 5 553 5 788
- Ministry of Education 5 437 5 786 5 970 6 054 6 197 6 457
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2 448 2 544 2 645 2 687 2 725 2 700
- Ministry of Transport and Communications 1 397 1 755 1 889 1 778 1 774 1 723
- Ministry of Trade and Industry 1 027 914 941 964 976 972
- Ministry of Health and Social Affairs 8 098 8 571 9 363 9 364 10 028 11 263
- Ministry of Labour 1 984 2 092 2 183 2 305 2 164 1 965
- Ministry of Environment 622 657 680 676 691 752
- State debt interest expences 3 624 4 653 2 381 2 782 2 447 2 238
- State debt reduction 1 010 - - - - -
OVERALL EXPENDITURE 35 511 36 896 36 320 37 065 37 855 39 452
When the Budget has been approved the ministries must confirm a breakdown of budgetary accounts for
their administrative branch for implementing the budget, at least to the degree of detail specified by
Parliament. The breakdown of budgetary accounts forms the basis for budget accounting, which is used
to monitor the execution of the budget. Government returns and expenses are also monitored by
commercial accounting. The ministries carry out performance target negotiations with the agencies for
which they have responsibility in order to make concrete the preliminary performance targets outlined in
the budget proposal. Once performance agreements have been contracted with the agencies, the
ministries must make their performance targets public.
At the start of the autumn session the Government submits a Financial Status Report to Parliament
outlining how well performance targets have been met. The report sets out the effectiveness of each
administrative branch. Administrative branches also report on budget execution and performance targets
in their reports on operations by administrative branch, which are submitted to Parliament in mid-May.
2.2. Spending limits
In order to promote a sustainable and credible fiscal policy, the Government has committed itself to a
new spending limits procedure whereby approximately three-quarters of total budget appropriations are
allocated to spending limits that cover the whole electoral term. This objective is included in the
Government Programme. In May 2003, a separate Government resolution was issued on the matter, and
Parliament was notified. The spending limits for the electoral term are expressed at 2004 price and cost
levels, and where necessary they are revised in line with technical changes in the budget structure.
Expenditures affected by cyclical fluctuations, other variable costs not dependent on Government
decisions, and also expenditure caused by administrative rearrangements or technical adjustments in the
budget proposal, with the exception of changes in spending principles, are excluded from the scope of
the spending rules. These include the following: