Fiscal council raises the alarm: Austria's deficit threatens to rise by 2029!

Fiscal council raises the alarm: Austria's deficit threatens to rise by 2029!

The Austrian fiscal council has presented alarming forecasts about the future budget development and the country's debt. According to the latest report, there are deficits of 4.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for 2024, which should only decrease slightly to 4.2% by 2029. These figures exceed the Maastricht upper limit of 3% and raise questions about the sustainability of the government's financial policy. The vienna.at reports that the finance ministry for 2025 is planning a deficit of 4.5%, during the fiscal council as "too optimistic" assessed.

The debt level of Austria will probably increase to 91.1% of GDP by 2029, which from the fiscal council's point of view could have serious consequences for the country's financial scope. In addition to the budget deficit, which is already on historically high values ​​- 4.3% (2023) and 4.1% (2024) - the situation requires an immediate initiation of structural reforms. The President of the Fiscal Council explained that the causes of the high deficits should be found primarily in the expenditure increases of the past decade, especially in the inflation -related salary increases in the public service and the indexing of social benefits.

consolidation requirement and reform proposals

The fiscal council describes the need for an additional saving requirement of 2.2 billion euros by 2029 in order to restore financial stability. The commands of the body are divided into three phases, which include short -term budget consolidation, medium -term structural reforms and long -term growth promotion. In addition, the implementation of growth -promoting and climate -friendly measures is considered essential. The changes must be carried out in cooperation with the federal states and municipalities, which indicates the complexity of the situation.

In order to achieve the annual savings of 5.9 billion euros by 2029, according to Press Binding negotiations of all regional authorities necessary. Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer therefore emphasizes the urgency of the implementation of planned measures to get the budgetary deficit under control.

The future of Austrian financial policy

The forecasts of the fiscal council are in stark contrast to the optimistic views of the government, which plans to push the new debt under the Maastricht border by 2028. This goal is considered unrealistic by experts. The fiscal council expects the budget deficit to not drop below 4% in the next few years, which could lead to a procedure of the EU Commission due to excessive deficits. A corresponding procedure is to be recommended on June 20 on the Ecofin Council.

The basic structure of the state finances must be reconsidered. A continuous budget deficit, coupled with an increasing debt rate, could consider Austria's ability to coping with crisis considerably. Another central point in the discussions is the need to increase the effective retirement age in order to counter demographic change and the associated financial challenges.

The development of public finances therefore remains exciting and requires intensive action both by the government as well as from the federal states and communities. Information and recommendations from the fiscal council are published regularly on their website to ensure transparency and to inform the public about the urgent financial policy issues fiskalrat .