Ministries forced to make savings after budget freeze

After the budget freeze imposed by Saxony's Ministry of Finance, the big arithmetic has begun in the other ministries. The "management measures" - as they are officially called - amount to five percent of the so-called other expenditure in each individual department. The Ministry of Finance announced the total for all departments at around 185 million euros on Wednesday. Together with already estimated savings of 80.1 million euros, the departments will have to save a total of 265.1 million euros. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor has to cope with the largest sum - 57.6 million euros. The Ministry of Social Affairs has to make savings of 33.5 million euros and the Ministry of Culture 31.2 million euros. The Ministry of Science and the Arts has 30 million euros.

In the previous week, the Ministry of Finance had asked the other ministries to provide evidence of savings totaling 265.1 million euros by the end of the year. According to the Ministry of Finance, there are no further restrictive requirements, especially not in relation to specific budget items or projects. The departments will only report to the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of the requirements after the end of the year. "In this respect, the Saxon State Ministry of Finance is currently unable to name individual areas of responsibility or projects that will be directly affected by the management measures in the individual plans."

Most departments also stated on request that they were not yet able to make any concrete statements on the savings. The Ministry for Regional Development - which is affected to the tune of 12.6 million euros - made it clear that it would not be without cuts. "However, we are endeavoring to keep the impact on the area as low as possible by putting all planned expenditure strictly to the test of necessity and efficiency," said ministry spokeswoman Annegret Fischer. At the moment, it is assumed that none of the state funding programs in the ministry's area will have to be completely discontinued. The administration's ability to work is "essentially assured". The financing of the major EU and federal programmes that have to be co-financed - such as the programmes for social housing, urban development, structural development or the promotion of village centers - also remains fundamentally secure.

"We are currently still examining in which areas savings can be made in order to implement the closures imposed by the State Ministry of Finance. We are not yet halfway through the year: So there is still room to adjust the budget accordingly so that important projects can still be implemented," said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor.