The non-inclusion of the necessary funds for the sports sector in the state budget forces the representatives of the field to ask for additional money and creates an absurd situation, The Saeima The press service quotes Sandis Riekstins, Chairman of the Sports Subcommittee of the Education, Culture and Science Commission of the Saeima.
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“Funding for the sports sector must not be reduced. It is not acceptable that Ministry of Finance The draft state budget developed for sport provides for a reduction of funds for the performance of basic functions. The basic functions are no extras, it is a daily necessity, and it is a shame that the sports industry is forced to come and ask for extra money, “said the chairman of the Sports Subcommittee after the meeting on Tuesday, October 27. Sandis Riekstins.
“It is absurd that the necessary funds for the sports sector are no longer included in the budget bill package. Part of the necessary financial resources will be allocated, but only by repeated requests and insistence. Prime Minister talks about the new policy, but the Ministry of Finance continues to implement the old one, “stressed the chairman of the Sports Subcommittee.
The budget planning process has marked a significant problem, not counting the industry, S. Riekstins emphasized. Next year’s draft state budget envisages that in 2021, funding for sport in total could decrease by about six million euros.
As S. Riekstins reminded, the Sports Subcommittee sent a letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance last month, calling for the next year’s state budget to provide funding for the sports sector in the performance of basic functions at a constant level. To ensure this, the government was called upon to provide the necessary additional funding of almost 2.79 million euros.
Tuesday at the meeting of the Sports Subcommittee Ministry of Education and Science (MES) Director of the Sports Department Edgars Severs informed the deputiesthat the Ministry of Education and Science has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers next year to partially ensure the missing funding for the performance of basic functions by redistributing funds internally within the Ministry.
The proposed solution envisages to divert a part – almost 1.4 million euros – of the funds saved in the MES budget in 2020. Latvian Olympic Committees (LOK) to partially cover the payments of the state-guaranteed loan in 2021 in 2020, redistributing the corresponding savings to the core functions in the following year. Additional funding could also be found from Covid-19 crisis funding. However, this does not solve the situation in 2022 and the following years, when almost 2.9 million euros are missing to ensure the performance of basic functions at a constant level, the representative of the Ministry of Education and Science emphasized.
The deputies of the Sports Subcommittee also emphasized the problem of insufficient funding for the organization of international sports events of national significance in Latvia. Proposals for the improvement of the draft state budget in the second reading will be provided, stressed S. Riekstins.
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