FACTBOX-Latvia austerity steps and budget cuts
June 17 (Reuters) - The Baltic state of Latvia is having to make drastic cuts in its state budget in order to win more funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to avoid bankruptcy and possible devaluation.
Before Latvia slid into crisis, it approved a 2009 budget with spending of 5.6 billion lats ($11.11 billion) on income of 5.3 billion lats.
The crisis budget just passed by parliament had spending of 4.7 billion lats ($9.32 billion) and income of 4.0 billion.
The following are the main elements of the latest austerity measures, where parliament on June 16 approved further cuts of 500 million Latvian lats in the 2009 finance bill.
SPENDING CUTS
-- A general 20 percent cut in public sector salaries. This is in addition to a 15 percent reduction approved earlier in the year. However, teachers say the reduction for them is between 40 and 50 percent.
-- A general 40 percent reduction in other spending.
-- A reduction in old age pensions of 10 percent Continued...
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