It is a budget of extremes that Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) and Wifo boss Gabriel Felbermayr took stock on Tuesday. Revenues in the 2022 federal budget are up significantly — and spending even more so. Above all, emergency aid and anti-inflation measures went into the money, with income benefiting from the higher inflation and the better development of the economy.
The result was an additional income of EUR 4.6 billion against an increase in expenditure of more than EUR 12 billion. This results in a so-called net financing balance of minus 20.8 billion euros – 2.8 billion more than last year. However, compared to the federal proposal, the balance was $2.3 billion lower.
“Not so bad done”
While the budgets of recent years have been “challenging and crisis-ridden,” the 2022 budget “wasn’t that bad,” Brunner said. Wifo boss Felbermayr also sees the budget “on a sustainable path” despite the numerous crisis expenditures.
Onerous: anti-inflation bonuses, gas reserves, more expensive loans
Adjusted expenses increased by 7.4 billion euros or 7.1 percent to 111.4 billion euros compared to the previous year. “In concrete terms, 5.7 billion euros was spent last year on emergency aid and anti-inflation measures. 3.8 billion euros had to be spent on the purchase of the strategic gas reserve and 2.8 billion euros are the higher refinancing costs,” explains Brunner.
Relief: Corona spending falls, inflation increases income
Positive for the budget: Corona-related expenditure has fallen, otherwise benefits would have been 16 billion euros higher than last year. The adjusted turnover in 2022 was 4.6 billion euros or 5.3 percent higher than the year before and amounted to 90.6 billion.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
