Despite the strong cuts in expenses related to pensions, family allowances and provinces, in February the national public administration accounts closed with a financial deficit of 186,635 million dollars due to interest payments of 1,100 billion dollars (mainly to the IMF ), according to data from the Congressional Budget Office (CPO). The fiscal red was not greater because 206,024 million dollars were calculated as revenues from the Guarantee and Sustainability Fund (FGS) of the ANSeS. According to the OPC, there have been “delays in some spending programs” and unpaid debts in the electricity market.
The primary surplus, which does not take into account interest payments, was $929,154 million, 1,805.5% higher than that achieved a year ago.
On the revenue side (2.6%), PAIS, export duty and VAT collection improved, thanks to the increase in the exchange rate on a year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, income from social security contributions fell by 23.6% due to falling real wages.
Ongoing expenses decreased by 29.5%. The largest drops were concentrated in the pension and pension sectors (33.9%), AUH (4.4%), family allowances (27%), PAMI (41.1%), provinces (89.8%), energy (61%) and transport (68.6%). .
However, due to the January surplus, the accounts for the first two months remain in positive territory ($1 billion), equal to $550,571 of the FGS.
The national administration’s revenue in the January-February period reached $10.7 billion, showing a slight growth of 0.4% in real terms compared to the same period last year.
Primary expenditures amounted to $7.2 trillion, a decline of 33.6% in real terms.
“With the exception of other ongoing expenses, which grew 31.9% primarily due to transfers to domestic hospitals, all concepts showed real decreases in year-over-year comparisons. The most significant are observed in capital expenditure (82.4%), current transfers to provinces (73%) and energy subsidies (59.5%). Pensions and pensions were reduced by 33% and, given their participation in the spending structure, they were the ones that contributed most to the total reduction.”
The report highlights that pension benefits not covered by bonuses recorded a real reduction of 43% in the first two months, while the loss of minimum benefits with bonus included was 27.8%.
The report also clarifies that “there are unpaid debts within the wholesale electricity market, which are usually covered by CAMMESA. To the extent that this company takes action to write off these debts, this will have an impact on the expenses that the Treasury will face during the transition period until the gap between costs and rates is reduced or eliminated.”
Interest payments on debt increased 34.2% ($2.4 trillion), with total expenditures reaching nearly $9.7 trillion against $10.7 trillion in revenue.
The report clarifies that “although the fiscal results for the month of February worsen compared to those obtained in the month of January, due to the combined effect of seasonality and the level of activity on resources together with a low recording of expenses in the first month of the year, the cumulative positive results starting from February 2024 (primary and financial) are at levels above the average of a 15-year series in the case of the financial result and at the highest level of the same in the case of the primary financial result. notes that in February delays persist in some spending programs while, on the contrary, interest on debt is seasonally high according to the maturity calendar.
Source: Clarin
