In the 2024 budget, there is a projected increase in the allocation for military and social protection, while health and housing expenses experience a decline.

Official figures from the Ministry of Finance indicate that by 2024, defense (military) expenditures will constitute 5.6% of the total budget, marking a 0.7 percentage point expansion compared to the initial 2023 budget.

Social protection expenses will see a 0.4% increase in their share of total budget allocations, reaching 29.4% in the coming year, up from the current 29%.

Conversely, health expenditures are anticipated to have a reduced proportion in the 2024 budget, accounting for 9.4% of the total, a 0.2 percentage point decrease compared to the current year. The most substantial reduction is observed in expenses for housing and community amenities, witnessing a 1.3 percentage point drop compared to the present year.

Economic and environmental affairs will maintain the same weight in relation to overall expenditures in 2024, while expenditures for public education services are expected to increase their share by 0.2% of total budget allocations next year.

The category labeled “Unclassified Expenditures”, representing over a quarter of total budget allocations, will experience a modest decrease in its share in 2024, declining to 23.3% from the current 24.7%.

Total public expenditures for 2024 are set at 735.9 billion lek or 30.2% of GDP, reflecting a 0.2 percentage point decrease compared to the previous year.

Personnel expenditures for 2024 reflect the current cost of Public Administration, coupled with the new salary increase policy commencing on July 1 next year. The fund for the ongoing salary increases, starting from July 1, 2024, is budgeted at 11 billion lek and includes salary hikes for employees in the healthcare system, educators, employees with ranks, and public administration officials. Total expenditures for salaries in Public Administration are projected at 119.7 billion lek or 4.9% of GDP.

Operational and maintenance expenses for central government in 2024 (excluding expenditures incurred by public institutions funded from outside the limit) are estimated at 63.2 billion lek or approximately 2.6% of GDP. This category includes financial support for the farmers’ scheme, maintenance of national roads, upkeep of IT systems, schemes to support economic development, and backing for sports education.

Local government expenditures for 2024 are predicted at 71.1 billion lek, representing a 10.4% increase over the 2023 budget. These expenditures for 2024 constitute 2.9% of GDP, up from 2.3% in 2013, primarily due to salary increases. In total, the grant from the state budget for local government in 2024 will amount to 36.5 billion lek.

Expenditures of special funds, encompassing total spending for Social Security Funds, Health Funds, and compensation for former owners, are anticipated to reach 249 billion lek or 10.2% of GDP. The level of expenditures for the Social Security Scheme in 2024 is projected at 178 billion lek or 7.3% of GDP.

Within this fund, an allocation of 4.1 billion lek is set for pension indexing, and 3.6 billion lek for the year-end bonus for pensioners. Meanwhile, expenditures for the Health Care Insurance Scheme in 2024 are estimated at 58 billion lek or 2.4% of GDP.