The Finance Secretary will focus on jobs and growth when he delivers the Scottish Government budget on Thursday.
John Swinney will set out his spending plans for 2013-14 in the face of what he described as the toughest financial settlement from Westminster since devolution.
He has already pledged to make jobs and economic growth priority areas.
There has also been speculation that he will use the budget to end the freeze on public sector pay that was introduced two years ago.
Mr Swinney will unveil his draft budget to Holyrood this afternoon, setting out how he plans to spend £28.4bn.
Adjusted for inflation, the Scottish budget from Westminster is expected to fall by about 11% between 2010-11 and 2014-15, according to a Scottish Government report.
Capital budgets, used to fund larger public infrastructure projects, will be reduced by 33% over the same period.
