RIGA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian government at an extraordinary sitting on Friday adopted the draft 2020 budget, with a deficit projected at 0.34 percent of the Baltic country's GDP, the governmental press service informed on Friday.

According to the budget blueprint, next year's general government revenue is planned at 9.894 billion euros (10.93 billion U.S. dollars) and expenditure at 10.002 billion euros, according to the Finance Ministry's draft resolution submitted to the government.

In comparison with 2019, Latvia's budget revenue is supposed to grow by 717.1 million euros and expenditure by 610.1 million euros.

The budget has been drafted assuming that the national economy will grow by 2.8 percent in 2020.

As promised, the government is not planning any tax changes for next year, Finance Minister Janis Reirs told ministers at the government meeting.

The Finance Ministry informed that the largest funding increase, worth 228.7 million euros, has been earmarked in the budget for social protection measures, including raising pensions and social benefits.

Martins Kazaks, an member of the Bank of Latvia Council, said that although the budget is not perfect, it is acceptable, as the government's approach to planning budget expenditures has become "more structured". The central bank's representative indicated that increased allocations must go hand in hand with reforms.

The Finance Ministry said that on Oct. 14, the draft budget would be put before the parliament for adoption. Enditem

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