Budget 2023

Budget to include 6.5% spending increase to tackle cost of living

This year’s Budget will be brought forward by two weeks to September 27, the government announced as part of today’s Summer Economic Statement

The total spending packet will be required to cover increases in the cost of doing government business from inflation, new spending allocated to specific departments, any public sector pay deal agreed in the coming weeks, and the cost of living package. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Higher than expected tax revenues this year will allow for a larger cost of living package in the Budget, but “volatile” corporate tax receipts may present an “artificially positive picture” of the public finances and must be guarded against, Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Finance, has warned.

The Minister for Finance was speaking at the launch of the government’s Summer Economic Statement (SES), which sets out the state’s financial position ahead of the autumn budget. ...