Foreign Ministry’s draft budget for 2011
Press Release 224/2010
30 July 2010
In its draft budget for 2011 submitted to the Ministry of Finance on May 14, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs proposes that its administrative branch be allocated a total of 1,278.3 million euros. That sum exceeds the assigned spending limits by EUR 15.7 million. The difference is mainly attributable to operating expenses for the administrative branch, membership fees and the implementation of cross-border cooperation in keeping with the current Ministry strategy.
In its draft budget the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has also specified the social impact objectives for the administrative branch in line with the Ministry’s strategy.
Proposed operating expenses for 2011 come to EUR 202.2 million. This exceeds spending limits by EUR 6.0 million, which is due to collective labour agreements concluded for the central government sector and to changes in the costs from running the network of delegations. The Ministry will continue to proceed with the Foreign Service Productivity Programme, aiming at a reduction of 25 person-years from the foreign service during 2011.
The proposed allocation for the maintenance of Finnish crisis management troops is 59.8 million euros and for the civilian contribution to crisis management 18.3 million euros. It is estimated that in 2011, 760 hired personnel will be involved in military and civilian crisis management operations.
The sum proposed for cross-border cooperation is 19.5 million euros, exceeding the spending limits by 6.0 million euros. The main emphasis is on the promotion of economic cooperation.
Central government expenditure on development cooperation in 2011 is expected to total 1,073.4 million euros, which is 0.59% of GNI. The proposed sum for development cooperation proper is 831.6 million euros. This includes 0.4 million euros to cover the costs of a joint project with the Austrian Development Cooperation Agency; the corresponding revenue is entered under the revenue for the administrative branch. The sum of 2.6 million euros is transferred from development cooperation appropriations to cover administrative costs from development cooperation.
The draft budget includes an allocation of 15 million euros to increase the capital of the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund).
A total of 105.8 million euros is proposed for membership fees and financial contributions; this is 0.7 million below the spending limits. A total of 6.62 million euros is reallocated from membership fees payable to development cooperation organizations to development cooperation proper.
It is projected that the Ministry’s administrative branch will receive 1.9 million in revenue that is not included in Ministry operating expenses.
Inquiries: Risto Hakoila, Financial Director, tel. +358 9 1605 5870, and Katja Bordi, Head of Financial Planning, tel. +358 9 1605 5990; for development cooperation, Laura Pietilä, Senior Officer, General Development Policy and Planning Unit, tel. +358 9 1605 6234; and for cross-border cooperation, Minni Hyrkkänen, Senior Officer, tel. +358 9 1605 5610
Foreign Ministry’s draft budget for 2011 (in Finnish) (Opens New Window)