Image: GEORG HOCHMUTH (APA)
The Fiscal Council is something like a warning for the finance ministers and financial officers in politics. It is currently led by the former head of the Economic Research Institute (Wifo), Christoph Badelt. Today, Thursday, Badelt gave an overview of the current situation and noted that Austria is struggling to comply with EU-wide fiscal rules. The corona crisis and the subsequent wave of inflation have left deep marks on the Austrian federal budget. Now it is time to create more scope for future challenges, says Badelt.
However, the Fiscal Council does not see very clear signs of this. He assumes that Austria will continue to have high budget deficits until 2027 and that national debt will decline from the current 76.4 percent of gross domestic product to 73.6 percent in 2027, despite sharply increasing revenues. The budget deficit will only slowly fall from the current 2.5 to 1.9 percent.
The fact that the finance minister cannot reduce the deficit and debt more quickly is due to the fact that more money is planned for national defense, climate protection, care and health, and the abolition of cold progression means that leeway is lost.
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