2023-04-26 06:06:03
The federal government will report a planned deficit of 3.2 percent or 15.4 billion euros to the EU Commission for 2023. Only from next year does the stability program show a significant decline to 1.3 percent of GDP in 2026. The debt ratio is expected to fall from 77 percent of GDP in the current year to 71.4 percent in 2026 and thus only slightly more the rate in 2019 (70.6 percent) before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis.
The stability program shows the national medium-term budget plans and must be submitted to the European Commission and the National Council by the end of April 2023 at the latest. It is based on the current WIFO economic forecast from March 2023, which shows weak economic growth of 0.3 percent for the full year 2023 with a “continued robust labor market”.
According to the stability program, the deficit was 3.2 percent in 2022, where it will remain in 2023 “due to the crisis”. The Ministry of Finance expects 1.6 percent for 2024, according to the current forecast it will be 1.4 percent in 2025, and then 1.3 percent in 2026. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) set the target for Austria’s deficit to be well below 3 percent of GDP from 2024. “We want to halve the deficit in order to put Austria on a sustainable budget path in the medium term,” said the minister.
The debt ratio is expected to increase from 78.4 percent last year and 77 percent this year to 75.1 percent in 2024, 73.3 percent in 2025 and finally 71.4 percent in 2026. According to Brunner, the crisis management measures had placed a heavy burden on the national budget. However, the expenses and the necessary support could be afforded “because Austria has pursued a sensible budgetary policy for years”.
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