Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) will present his first budget on Wednesday. On the one hand, this is burdened by high debts that have been accumulated in the past pandemic years through the generous corona aid and the sharp rise in interest rates.
Added to this are anti-inflation packages worth billions, enormous inflation and stagnant economic growth. At the same time, inflation also means higher tax revenues.
Key figures already published
The most important numbers have already been aired in the media over the past few days. The administrative net financing balance of the federal government amounts to minus 17 billion euros. Payments will increase by 7.6 to 115.1 billion euros compared to 2022, and deposits by 13.7 to 98.1 billion euros.
Accordingly, the Maastricht deficit next year will be just under three percent of economic output (gross domestic product/GDP) and is expected to fall to 1.6 percent by 2026. The debt increases to 367 billion euros, but the share of the gross domestic product falls slightly from 78.3 to 76.7 percent. Interest expenses will double from 4.3 to almost nine billion euros in 2023.
Budget speech number one for Magnus Brunner
Brunner will also give his first budget speech on Wednesday. The associated “first reading”, in which the parliamentary groups of the National Council give their assessment of the budget draft, will not follow until Thursday.
The National Council uses the Wednesday session to make various major decisions. These include the abolition of “cold progression” and the pension increase. As always, the exact key data of the budget will only be announced on the day of the budget speech.
Fiscal leeway is also restricted by the abolition of “cold progression”, through which the individual tax brackets are adjusted annually for inflation. In addition, various social and family benefits such as child benefit and family allowance will also be automatically valued in the future. With the exception of the so-called luxury pensioners, there is an increase of at least 5.8 percent for seniors. With one-off payments, recipients of low pensions will gain even more.
subsidizing companies
While the electricity price brake for households will not be decided until Thursday, it will be the turn of companies to subsidize their energy costs on Wednesday. From the series of resolutions on the corona crisis, the comeback of the special care period comes to the vote. An FPÖ motion for a referendum on sanctions once morest Russia because of its aggression in Ukraine has no chance of approval.
