Poland’s budget revenues have increased by more than 110% since 2015 when the Law and Justice (PiS) came to power, the government spokesperson has claimed.
“When we started to rule, the budget revenues in 2015 reached PLN 289 billion (EUR 61 billion), whereas the budget revenues planned for 2023 amount to PLN 604.7 billion (EUR 127 billion), which means an increase of over 110%,” Piotr Mueller told a press conference on October 26.
He said that this proved PiS policies such as tightening the VAT system had been a success.
The resulting increase in revenue, Mueller added, had allowed for higher spending on social policy, including family aid schemes such as the 500-plus programme, which rose by 275%, from PLN 31 billion (EUR 6.5 billion) in 2015 to over PLN 116 billion (EUR 24.4 billion) in 2023.
He also said that the PiS government had increased spending on health, from around PLN 77 billion (EUR 16.2 billion) in 2015 to PLN 165 billion (EUR 34.7 billion) in 2023, which constituted over 6% of GDP.
Defence spending also rose in this period from over PLN 37 billion (EUR 7.8 billion), or around 2.2% of GDP, to over PLN 97 billion (EUR 20.4), or 3% of GDP, Mueller added.
According to the draft budget for 2023, revenue receipts are expected to reach PLN 604.7 billion (EUR 127 billion), spending not to exceed PLN 672.7 billion (EUR 141.3 billion) and the budget deficit likely to come to PLN 68 billion (EUR 14.3 billion).
Under the budget bill, Poland’s public debt will amount to 53.3% of GDP, and the general government sector debt is expected at 4.5% of GDP in 2023. (The First News/Business World Magazine)
