He Government of Navarre continues its efforts to increase spending and approved at this Friday’s session the spending ceiling non-financial Foral community by 2025which amounts to 5,974.8 million euros, or 2.4% more than the budget approved in 2024, which represents an increase of 139 million euros.
The Minister of Economy and Finance of the Government of Navarre, Jose Luis Arastístressed at a press conference that the spending ceiling “gives continuity to the growth of the Navarre budget which has been repeated in recent years, despite the difficult socio-economic context in which we are evolving.”
He advisor Arasti delved into the details of the figure approved by the Executive. Thus, he explained that, as always happens with the maximum expenditures approved, the contribution to the State (874 million euros) and to the Local Treasury Fund (331 million euros) must be deducted, which places the ceiling for non-financial expenditure at 4.770 million euros. , 1.8% more than in 2024.
During his speech, Jose Luis Arastí stressed that “the objectives of the next budget do not vary from the priorities that this government of Navarre has set and that they respond to the strengthening of social spending and the improvement of public resources to thus give the Community greater strength in its economic development.”
This, in the words of Minister of Economy and Finance“It must be combined with another of the essential objectives of this government, which is to maintain the rigor and responsibility in the management of public resources that have allowed Navarre to position itself as one of the most solvent communities in the country.”
Precisely, the advisor explained that the regional executive She is still negotiating with the Spanish government the deficit target for 2025, but added that she does not envisage it being lower than 0.3%.
Regarding the possibility that the Government of Navarre adopt measures to reduce the tax burden on average incomes and the self-employed, Jose Luis Arastí stressed that “we have been working for months on different tax tables, solutions are being developed for the industrial sector, solutions for agriculture, and this will also be taken into account – possible reduction to average incomes and self-employed workers -, and we will see what margin “we have and the impact that this can have, but there will be many tax measures that can be approved for 2025, the impact of which will have an effect on the 2026 tax return.”
Setting the ceiling is a process in which several factors must be taken into account. On the one hand, the forecast of non-financial income (5.744 million euros), prepared by the various departments of the Government of Navarre and in particular the Foral Treasury of Navarre regarding tax revenues and the impact of tax measures.
This forecast also includes the arrival of European MRR funds, which will experience an expected slowdown by 2025, reaching 1.9 million euros.
On the effect on departments of the reduction in amounts coming from Europe, The advisor indicated that “since 2021, European funds have had a positive impact on spending ceilings”, but he clarified that “we will separate the ordinary budget from the budget of the European MMR funds”. “Here I must say that the majority of departments, in this increase in the spending ceiling, will see their spending ceiling increase and for some it is a beginning, there is still the whole process until the preparation of the preliminary draft, there “There are amendments, it is no longer a beginning and the final ceiling of each department will be seen in the final approval of the budgets in December”, he noted.
The deficit target is another of the variables that make up the setting of the spending ceiling. In this regard, what is expected for next year is that the deficit could reach 0.3% of the Regional Community’s GDP, which represents in absolute terms the figure of almost 82 million euros. In addition, the adjustments of the national accounting are also taken into account when setting the expenditure ceiling, which in this case reach 148.6 million euros.
He advisor Arasti highlighted the impact of the measures that will benefit citizens and that are already envisaged in the forecast of non-financial income. On the one hand, the economic impact that the tax measures approved in 2024 and which reach 50 million euros have been neglected and, on the other hand, the expected impact on the claims of Navarrese mutualists who have requested the revision of their personal income tax returns following the Supreme Court rulings and which will reach 150 million euros.
Once the maximum expenditure ceiling is approved, the internal process of preparing the preliminary draft will begin. General Budget of Navarre 2025This process will end in the first half of October with the approval of the preliminary draft by the Government of Navarre.
When the preliminary draft becomes a reality, the text will then be sent to the Economic and Social Council of Navarre, Environmental Council and Foral Commission of the Local Regime for its opinion, a preliminary step to the approval of the text as a regional bill in a government session and its subsequent referral to the Parliament of Navarre for debate.
