Table 2 - Net lending(+) or net borrowing (-) of the general government ( as a percentage of GDP, 1996-2000-2003 )
CONCEPTS 1996 2000 2003(p) Difference
(a) (b) ( c) ( c)-(a)
1.Total revenues 38,8 39,1 40,0 1,2
2.Total expenditure 43,7 39,9 39,6 -4,1
Non-interest current expenditure 33,3 32,1 32,3 -1,0
Interest payment 5,3 3,3 2,5 -2,8
Capital expenditure 5,1 4,5 4,8 -0,3
3.Primary Balance 0,4 2,4 2,9 2,5
4.Net lending(+) or net borrowing( -) -4,9 -0,9 0,4 5,3- UE-15 Net lending(+) or net borrowing(-) -4,2 1,0 -2,7 1,5
(p) Provisional
Source: Intervención General de la Administración del Estado
Although between 1996 and 2003 the size of the General Government in terms of expenditure of GDP
fell by around 4 percentage points of GDP, the Territorial Government increased its participation on the
total expenditures by 3.4 percentage points explaining the fall of the Central Administration (Central
Government and Social Security System) within said total expenditure of about 7.5 percentage point
(Table 3).
Table 3 - Institutional classification of the expenditures of the General Government ( as a percentage of GDP, 1996-
2000-2003)SUBSECTORS1996 2000 2003(p) Difference(a) (b) ( c) ( c)-(a)
1.Central Government 14,1 10,4 9,5 -4,6
2.Autonomous Governments 9,8 10,7 12,8 3,0
3.Local Governments 4,9 5,1 5,3 0,4
4.Social Security Funds 14,9 13,7 12,0 -2,9
5.Total expenditures of the General Government 43,7 39,9 39,6 -4,1
(p) Provisional
Source: Intervención General de la Administración del EstadoAfter Ireland, Spain ranks the second lowest size of the General Government measured by its level of
expenditures as percentage of GDP. Meanwhile the average of public expenditures for the EU-15
countries reached almost an average of around 47 percent of GDP in 2002. Spain closed its public books
7.4 percentage points below the EU-15 average. The greatest differences in public expenditures in terms
of GDP with respect to EU-15 average are in Social Protection—5.5 percentage points--, Health—1.2
points, General Public Services—1.4 points, and Education—0.7 points (Table 4).