Spending on social benefits fell by 10% in the first semester

The financial deficit for the first semester was 14% lower in real terms than the one that changed in the same period of the previous year. Spending on social benefits contracted by 10%, which ignited some alerts in the toughest sectors of the government coalition facing the polls.

These are data that come from the Congressional Budget Office, which is the body that monthly measures the costs of the different costs of law, at the same time that it analyzes other data on the national economy.

The primary deficit, by technical definition, is the red one that does not include interest payments on the debt. In this case, according to the same source, it fell by 26.2% in real terms.

This occurred because revenues contracted 5.3% year-over-year in real terms while total expenses fell 7.8% in the same comparison.

What was spent the most, according to this report between last January and June, was paying interest on the debt. This item increased by 18.3% and hit hard in the robustness of the Central Bank’s reserves (see this page).

Tax revenue fell 10.1% in the first half of this year compared to the first six months of last year and was partially offset by a 1.6% improvement in pension collection.

However, in June contributions and contributions showed for the first time so far this year a fall compared to the same month last year.

This turns on some yellow lights, especially due to the commitments that were launched in the last week, for example, regarding loans to retirees and pensioners for up to 400,000 pesos that will be repaid with rates of up to 29% and in 48 installments. because that “financial cost” of Anses will fall on the social security coffers that the next government must administer, whatever it may be.

In addition, according to the report from the Congressional Budget Office, primary spending fell by 9.8% accumulated to June. It is a contraction led by the reduction in energy subsidies (27.3% YoY), in social benefits (10.0%) and in transfers to provinces (25.3%).

These are some of the commitments that the economic cabinet assumed in the renegotiation with the Monetary Fund, to reduce spending on subsidies, especially in the energy chapter, although it is not exclusive, for this reason train and bus fares increased. The reduction of fiscal resources in energy results in the rise in electricity and gas rates, in addition to the increase in fuel pumps, which rise 4.5% month after month due to the framework of the Fair Prices agreement.

Personnel expenses (8%), transfers to universities (8% y/y) and subsidies to the transport sector (15.1%) expanded when comparing both semesters.

When comparing month against month of each year, primary spending presented twelve months of consecutive falls.

Finally, when comparing the Progresar scholarships and the Accompany program, both presented positive real variations, unlike other major social initiatives.