The amnesty has left the economy in the background. It seems that no one cares if the State budgets have been met for this year and what the following ones will be like. However, food matters are not played with and once the new executive is formed, in the event that it is formed, money will be discussed again.
The European Union has already begun to demand the dreaded fiscal adjustment and the ECB reminds us that if we do not start paying the high amount owed, it will raise interest rates again. The term austerity is being used more and more naturally. Yet our politicians continue to promise more spending. Until proven otherwise, no one has succeeded in drinking and blowing at the same time, or squaring the circle.
If, as everything suggests, Pedro Sánchez re-edits the government, the first thing he will ask his ministers is how the preparation of the budgets is going. A few months ago, he instructed the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to continue working on next year’s accounts. But things are not going as planned. The spending ceiling was not approved, leaving no other option but to extend the current budgets. It’s the old jungle trick. When you don’t have the balls, cook forward. And Nadia Calviño is not paying off.
The main reason is that the rise in interest rates has raised the ten-year Spanish bond to 3.8%, well above official forecasts. This means that you have to pay more for the cost of servicing the debt. The cost of the energy bill is also rising. Experts point out that the price of a barrel of oil could exceed $100, much higher than had been calculated.
The change with the dollar doesn’t help either. And all this with inflation that is not yet under control, especially underlying and food inflation. Mortgages are rising more than the account and everything indicates that consumption has begun to decrease and that growth and job creation will be lower. In other words, Treasury revenues are starting to suffer and, despite this, expenses continue to push upwards. Government partners are already putting a not only political but monetary price on their support.
To square this complicated sudoku there is no other option than to extend the budgets to 2023. This slows down the expensive and debatable measures taken to cushion the rise in inflation, such as subsidizing the price of gas, housing or food. Only there is one way out: the budget extension. standard
