Budget scenarios as an instrument of the Generalitat's fiscal policy

Els escenaris pressupostaris com a instrument de la política fiscal de la Generalitat

V. Molina-Pacheco, M. Riera-Estorch

V. Molina-Pacheco, M. Riera-Estorch

Abstract

Budgetary scenarios define the government's medium-term fiscal strategy. On the one hand, they determine what resources will be available in the coming years, identifying those that have a cyclical or conjunctural nature and that must be the subject of a differentiated treatment. On the other hand, what will be its allocation in accordance with the priorities set by the government through the different spending policies. The multi-year frameworks must be compatible with the requirements of fiscal policy intended to guarantee the sustainability of public finances.

Having multi-year frameworks allows governments to know the impact on public finances, in the medium term, of current and proposed policies; define future priorities; improve the control of public spending, and guarantee the sustainability of finances and transparency. Taking into account that budgets are governed by the principle of annuality, both in their approval and execution, they must be framed in budgetary scenarios.

It is for all of the above that in 2020, the Generalitat de Catalunya amended the Finance Law and provided itself with the regulatory framework to have a medium-term financial plan, in which to frame the annual budget and circumscribe the rush of Government decisions with budgetary impact in the following four financial years.

The article is structured in two sections. In the first, the advantages of having multi-year budget scenarios as an instrument to: guarantee the consistency and sustainability of public finances in the medium and long term; identify and address the main fiscal risks, present and future, and take appropriate measures to deal with them, and hold citizens accountable. Specifically, the relevance of having budgetary scenarios is analyzed from three points of view: that of the main international bodies in the field of public finances; the regulatory framework in force, and the transparency and performance of accounts.

In the second section, the procedure used by the Generalitat of Catalonia for the preparation of the multi-year trend framework - that is to say, without changes in income or expenditure policies - is detailed, and which becomes an essential part of the scenarios medium-term budgets. Otherwise, the multi-year framework prepared by the Generalitat de Catalunya is presented, as part of the preparation of the accounts for 2025, and which is part of the Report on Budgetary Orientations presented to Parliament (IOP 2025).

Keywords:

Pressupost públic
Política fiscal

How to cite

V. Molina-Pacheco and M. Riera-Estorch, Budget scenarios as an instrument of the Generalitat's fiscal policy, 4rceec (2025). Vol. Sostenibilitat de les polítiques públiques, 138 URL https://www.scipedia.com/public/Pacheco_Estorch_2024a

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