Current expenditure of the Basque Autonomous Administrations, formed by the Basque Government, the Provincial Councils and the Municipal Administrations, together with their corresponding Autonomous Institutions and Supra-municipal Bodies, experienced a rise of 6.7% in 2002, according to Eustat data, totalling 8,177.1 million. As for current income, there was a 5.7% increase over the same twelve-month period, coming to 10,149.2 million.

As a result of both evolutions, the current transactions balance (Current Income minus Current Expenditure) came to 1,972 million euros, 1.6% more than in 2001.

Within current income, under the heading of tax revenue, VAT, representing 32.5% of taxes, had positive evolution of 3.2%. Income tax experienced annual growth of 4.3% and accounted for 31.9% of tax revenue. The largest percentage growth corresponded to Special Taxes (9.7%), followed by Municipal Taxes (6.9%) and Corporate Tax (6.5%).

Under the entry for current expenditure, expenditure on personnel accumulated an annual increase of 5.4%, similar to the growth obtained by current transfers. Overall, total current expenditure registered a 6.7% rise in 2002, smaller than the 8.6% increase of the previous year.

The growth of the current transactions balance was countered by the increase in investment and capital transfers, causing a reduction of the non-financial budgetary surplus, going from 461.9 million euros in 2001 to the 336.5 million euros calculated for 2002. This surplus came to 0.7% of GDP in 2002.

Capital income totalled 309.8 million and capital expenditure (investment and capital transfer) accounted for over 1,945 million euros. They underwent substantial growth of 16.1%, surpassing the growth rate of 2001 (13.1%) and well above growth achieved in the year 2000 (3.5%).

Outstanding debt, which had fallen to 2,776.4 million, stood at 3,047.9 million at the end of 2002, 6.8% of GDP. 636.5 million of new debt was contracted in 2002 and 367.8 of the previous one was repaid.

A total of 58,718 people were employed by the Basque Public Administrations as a whole, meaning an increase of 1.3%, in relation to the personnel of 2001. If we include people employed by Mercantile Enterprises and Private Law Public Bodies, the total number of personnel employed came to 87,644 personas, 1.4% more than in 2001. These personnel accounted for 9.8% of the total number of people employed by the whole of the economic sectors of the A.C. of the Basque Country in 2002.