Budget

On May 13, 2025, the Austrian federal government presented its drafts for the 2025 and 2026 federal finance acts and the 2025‑2028 and 2026‑2029 federal medium-term expenditure framework acts. The budget planning introduces a moderate consolidation course. In 2025, expenditures of 123.2 billion Euros and revenues of 105.1 billion Euros are planned. This results in a net borrowing of 18.1 billion Euros. By 2029, net borrowing is expected to fall to 15.1 billion Euros. The general government budget deficit is expected to decline slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5 % of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 and to fall further to 2.8 % of GDP by 2029. The European fiscal rules can be complied with under the budget plan presented, but there are risks in this regard in the medium term, as some of the consolidation measures included in the budget plan are not yet sufficiently specific.

The analysis is available only in German.

In 2024, federal expenditures were 11.5 billion Euros or 10.5 % higher than in the previous year. The increase was mainly due to inflation in previous years and discretionary measures taken by the federal government, while in particular expenditures for crisis measures and financing costs declined. Expenditures fell short of the federal budget statement 2024 by 2.8 billion Euros. Federal revenues were 0.3 billion Euros or 0.3 % higher than in the previous year. Higher revenues were recorded primarily for taxes and dividends, while lower revenues were recorded for receipts from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and for reflows in connection with the bank resolutions. Revenues fell short of the federal budget statement 2024 by 1.1 billion Euros. The difference between expenditures and revenues resulted in a deficit of 19.1 billion Euros, which was 1.7 billion Euros below the federal budget statement 2024.

The analysis is available only in German.

The new EU fiscal rules have been in force since April 30, 2024. On June 19, 2024, the European Commission published the spring package for the European Semester, including the country reports, proposals for new country-specific recommendations, and a report which proposes to open an excessive deficit procedure for several member states. On June 21, 2024, the European Commission submitted the country-specific reference trajectories for expenditure growth to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance, which published it. The update provides information on the newly-received documents and their implications.

The analysis is available only in German.