Public Administrations guarantee a balance of 785 million euros until February

The budget surplus fell to 785 million euros by February, which represents a drop of 1,556 million euros compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance revealed this Thursday.

“From the perspective of public accounting, public administrations recorded a budget balance of 785 million euros until February 2024, showing a decrease of 1,556 euros compared to the same period last year”, says the Ministry, still led by Fernando Medina, in anticipation of the release of the summary of budget execution by the Directorate-General for the Budget (DGO).

The Ministry explains that the variation in the balance is due to the increase in effective revenue of 4.1%, affected by the increase in social contributions, which was 10.4%, and in the opposite direction by the fall in tax revenue of 2.8% .

It is also due to the increase in effective expenditure of 15.9%, which reflects the increase in expenditure on current transfers, of 15.4%, the acquisition of goods and services which increased by 12.5% ​​and the increase in personnel expenditure of 8.6%.

These data only refer to two months of budget execution.

The Ministry also reveals that until February this year, tax revenue decreased by 2.8% due to VAT payment deadlines.

Contributory income continues to reflect the positive dynamics observed in the labor market, increasing 10.4% compared to the previous year.

Social security contributions increased to 4,957 million euros.

In these two months, primary expenditure (without interest on public debt) maintained its upward trend (+16.8%).

Effective expenditure increased by 15.9% essentially due to the increase in current transfers of 15.4% and public investment which grew by 98.4%, as well as personnel expenses of 8.6%. This includes increases in the Civil Service and the increase in the minimum wage to 820 euros.

Investment in the railway justifies a large part of investment expenditure, which grew 63%, excluding Public-Private Partnerships.

There is also expenditure on social benefits – excluding pensions, which registered a growth of 23.8%, largely due to the update of the social support index (IAS) and the increase in remuneration. The Finance statement highlights here the solidarity supplement for the elderly (CSI), with a year-on-year increase of 90.4%. But also the family allowance for children and young people (family allowance which increased by 56.8%); social benefits for inclusion (+20.9%); and the support subsidy for informal caregivers (54.3%).

Pension expenditure increased by 18.1%, affected by the payment of IRS withholding charges and the effect of the mid-term increase.

The effective expenditure of the National Health Service grew by 8% year-on-year due to the 8.4% increase in personnel costs.

Still in the SNS, the stock of late payments fell by 7.5 million euros compared to February 2023.