2023-11-17 22:35:51
The National Council’s Budget Committee gave the green light for the 2024 budget on Friday evening. After a total of six days of deliberations, the coalition majority of MPs approved the draft budget presented by the government and the new federal financial framework. Only the budgets of the Court of Auditors, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Constitutional Court and the Administrative Court received unanimous support, the parliamentary correspondence reported.
In addition to the ÖVP and the Greens, the SPÖ and NEOS also voted for the budget for the presidential office. No changes were made to the government draft; it went to the plenary session with the original key data. Three days of plenary deliberations are now planned before the final votes. They will start next Tuesday and last until Thursday November 23rd.
Specifically, the draft budget for 2024 presented by the government provides for income of 102.63 billion euros and expenditure of 123.49 billion euros. In total, this results in an administrative deficit of around 20.9 billion euros or 4.13 percent of GDP. Calculated according to the Maastricht criteria, a loss of 3 percent is expected or – if states, municipalities and social security systems are taken into account – 2.7 percent. The prerequisite for this is that the economy grows by 1.2 percent, as forecast. The general government debt ratio is expected to remain stable at 76.4 percent of GDP in 2024 despite rising interest payments and is expected to decline to 76.1 percent by 2027 according to the federal financial framework.
The parliamentary budget service attributes the fact that the budget deficit – unlike planned last year – is not falling more sharply to, among other things, the expansionary new financial equalization, whereby the additional money for the states is to flow into the areas of health, care, housing and childcare, among other things . The government has also budgeted more money for other budget items such as national defense, climate protection, science and research and internal security. In addition, the somewhat less favorable economic conditions and rising pension expenses are making themselves felt.
According to the government, the abolition of cold progression, which was decided in 2022, will burden the national budget with 2.8 billion euros next year – for the benefit of taxpayers. Energy aid for companies and non-profit organizations and other measures to make the business location more attractive are expected to cost EUR 2.3 billion. The number of permanent positions is also expected to increase – by 1,159 to 145,149 – with the largest increases occurring in the areas of education, justice, internal affairs and financial administration.
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