Draft Federal Budget 2012: Proactive Elements Should Be Strengthened Further

The draft federal budget 2012 is the second "consolidation budget" after the nadir of the financial and economic crisis. The general government's Maastricht deficit is to decline from 3.6 percent of GDP in 2011 to 3.2 percent in 2012. According to the federal medium-term financial framework for 2012-2015 it is to be reduced to 2 percent by 2015. The debt ratio is expected to increase further to 74.6 percent in 2012. It is predicted to rise to 75.5 percent by 2013 and decline again gradually in subsequent years. Due to the financial crisis, the general government expenditure ratio, which, in the pre-crisis year 2007, had reached the lowest level since 1997 at 48.5 percent of GDP, increased to 52.9 percent until 2009. In subsequent years it declined again slowly as a consequence of the cyclical recovery and expenditure-based consolidation measures. For 2012 a level of 51.2 percent is expected. The tax ratio rose slightly in 2008 and 2009 to 42.7 percent and 42.6 percent, respectively, and has remained near 42 percent since then. At 0.9 percent Austria's general government budget deficit as defined in the Maastricht treaty was comparable to the EU average in the pre-crisis year 2007. During the years until 2013 it is expected to remain below average. In 2013 the Austrian budget balance will fall below the Maastricht limit of 3 percent of GDP again, while the EU average will continue to exceed this limit also in 2013. Starting from a level near the EU 27 average of about 60 percent, Austria's debt ratio increased far less than the EU average which will rise to 84.9 percent until 2013.