January 10 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's government needs to improve its budget planning to eliminate opportunities for unjustified spending, the country's Fiscal Council said.
The 1.394 billion euro ($1.49 billion) budget deficit recorded in 2022 was much lower than the one predicted in the budget reshuffling and this confirms the stance of the Fiscal Council that inadequate budget planning continued, the independent state body said in a statement last week.
Considering budget performance in 2022 and the adopted budget for 2023, it follows that expenditures would rise by 18.5% this year, about double the average increase of the previous two years and the highest-ever annual growth rate, the Fiscal Council said. At the same time, the planned funds for social transfers and intermediate spending, which were underestimated at the time of adoption of the revision of the 2022 budget, are not sufficient to cover this year's fiscal obligations.
"Given that the medium-term public financial framework is supposed to play a central role in the proposed revised EU economic management framework, it will be necessary to invest significantly more effort in the future to improve the credibility of budget planning," the Fiscal Council said.
In November, the Slovenian parliament passed the budget for 2023 that will strongly increase the deficit to 3.3 billion euro.
The Fiscal Council is accountable to Slovenia's parliament. It has three members and its mission is to assess the compliance of the government's fiscal policy with the fiscal rules and EU regulations.
($ = 0.93284 euro)