The minister noted that additional funding for health and welfare is not among the three main priorities of this year's state budget, but that additional funding could be found through tax audits. Ašeradens acknowledged that these sectors were not sufficiently funded.
The coalition agreed to launch a tax audit in the second half of this year and to evaluate how those industries could be financially stabilized, the finance minister said.
Security, economic transformation, and the mitigation of the effects of inflation have been highlighted as the main priorities of the state budget for 2023. Similarly, the health sector was among the priorities, Ašeradens said.
"The first is security, we see how the situation in Ukraine develops, we can draw conclusions from it, and we are planning appropriate investments. The turning point is that not only are we thinking about external security, but also about internal. The second key issue is the issue of economic transformation. […] The big issues here are investment in education, science [..]. The third big question is how to compensate both the population and the economy as a whole for the consequences of the high inflation rate. Health care is also given an appropriate place in a new budget structure,” noted Ašeradens.
The Minister of Finance said that work on this year's draft budget is ongoing, describing the ongoing budget negotiations as very constructive and relatively peaceful.
