In accordance with the Fiscal Council’s expectations, the state budget deficit in 2020 was EUR 3.5 billion and therefore smaller than the revised budget projections (EUR 4.2 billion).
The scope of all implemented COVID measures in 2020 amounted to EUR 2.9 billion and to EUR 2.4 billion for the measures having direct effect on general government balance. The actual impact so far is much smaller than estimated by the government when the anti-corona legislation was adopted, however it still contributed significantly to the deterioration in public finances.
The Fiscal Council again calls on economic policymakers to ensure that the measures to mitigate the consequences of the epidemic are transparent, temporary and truly focused on ameliorating the direct effects of the epidemic. Stimulatory policies should be aimed at strengthening the long-term economic potential and maximising effectiveness in the absorption of EU funds. This remains a key challenge in the future course of fiscal policy, since last year the actual revenue from EU funds on the one hand and investment expenditure on the other hand again significantly lagged behind the projections from budget documents.
The Fiscal Council will regularly publish an overview of the outturn of the state budget and COVID measures in its monthly publication, provided that such data will be available. The comments on the state budget outturn refer to the daily data available at: https://proracun.gov.si/#.