The deficit of all public administrations (AAPP) closed 2023 at 3.66% of GDP, below the figure for 2022 (4.7%), and stood at 53,556 million euros, managing to improve the objective committed by the Government with Brussels (3.9%). However, Tax collection grew by 6.4%, up to 271,935 million, with an increase of 9.9% in Personal Income Tax and 9% in Companies.
This is clear from the advance of budget execution data of public administrations corresponding to the year 2023. They were presented this Thursday by the first vice president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero.
The head of the Treasury affirms that an improvement is reflected compared to estimates made by international and national analysts for the fourth consecutive year. Also those of the Government itself, which set its objective for the year as a whole at 3.9%.
He insisted that the public deficit has been reduced by 6.4 points from the maximum reached in 2020, after the outbreak of the pandemic. AND has estimated the State’s fiscal effort to face the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine at 120 billion euros. Looking ahead to 2024, the Government maintains its forecast that the public deficit will drop to 3% of GDP due to the European Union Stability Pact.
By subsectors, the Central Administration was once again the one that made the most efforts in reducing the deficit, according to Montero. Specifically, it went from a deficit of 3.1% in 2022 to 2.1% in 2023, up to 30,828 million euros. Revenues grew by 4.1%, to 289,486 million eurosy Expenses rose 0.4%, to 320,314 million. Within income, State tax collection grew by 5.3%.
The autonomous communities have exceeded the reference rate by three tenths committed to Brussels that was set in the budget plan (0.6%) and deviated by 0.9%, up to 13,254 million.
In any case, the minister has highlighted that there are five cAutonomous communities that registered a surplus in 2023: Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria and Navarra.
The income of the communities rose by 5.8%, to 236,453 million, while expenses increased by 4.6%, to 249,707 million. In the case of town councils, a deficit of 0.09% was recorded in 2023, up to 1,263 million euros. The Social Security Funds maintain their deficit in line with forecasts at 0.56% of GDP, with 8,211 million euros.
In 2023, tax revenues grew by 6.4%, to 271,935 million euros. Consumer spending increased by just 3.8%, thanks to the fall in energy prices.
In general, these income linked to spending had a behavior similar to that of the previous year due to the VAT reductions in both food and energy. Income from personal income tax reached 120,280 million, 9.9% more, while 35,060 million were collected in Corporate Tax9% more.
Regarding VAT, revenues grew by 1.6%, despite the fact that expenditure subject to it rose by 7.4%. For its part, income from Special Taxes reached 20,757 million euros. Compared to 2022, collection increased by 533 million, 2.6% more.