Budget according to Government Functions 2022 planning

Open Data Albania is researching on government expenditures planned for 2022, according to functional classification. Analyzing expenditures by function can show government priorities and challenges, and focus over the years.

The data are taken from the accompanying tables of Law no. 115, dated 25.11.2021 for the 2022 Budget.

In total, there are ten public functions which are guaranteed by the state.

For 2022, about 480 billion ALL are planned to guarantee these functions, or 75% of the total budget expenditures. The rest are Unclassified Expenses.

Social protection is the function with the highest budget support. In 2022, about 182.2 billion ALL are planned to be spent on this function. This includes subfunctions such as Old Age Pensions, Disability Payments, Unemployment Payments, Housing, Social Exclusion and other expenses for group protection. Social protection accounts for 28.6% of total budget expenditures. In terms of GDP, expenditures for this function result in 9.8% of GDP.

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

Health is the second most expensive function. About ALL 65 billion or 10.2% of the total budget expenditures are planned for the provision of services under this function. These include: Hospital service; Public health; General Medical Service; Income from the Special Fund for Health Insurance. According to the Government plan for 2022, health expenditures will amount to 3.5% of the GDP.

Education is the third function with the highest budget expenditures for 2022. They are planned in the amount of ALL 48.6 billion, or 7.6% of total budget expenditures. The main sub-functions are: Preschool and Primary Education; High school education; Higher Education; Scientific Research and Development and others. Although human capital is an important factor that contributes to long-term economic growth and education affects the improvement of its quality and quantity, the planned expenditures for this function are only 2.6% of the GDP. 

Economic affairs are ranked fourth in terms of expenditures planned for 2022. For this function are planned 46.5 billion ALL, which is 7.3% of total expenditures or 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product. Part of this function are sub-functions: General Employment Issues; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; Energy; Transport; others such as Communication, Industry, Mining, Manufacturing and Construction, and Economic Development.

General public services is the fifth function, which is assigned the highest budget share of planned expenditures. For 2022, 43.2 billion ALL Expenditures are planned, which compared with the total expenditures,  represent about 6.8% or 2.3% of the GDP. This function includes: Public Administration Service including Debt Payments; Legislative and executive bodies, fiscal and financial affairs, foreign affairs; and others. 

Housing and community amenities is another function guaranteed by the government and the budget expenditures planned for this function account for about 5.6% of total expenditures, or 1.9% of gross domestic product. This function consists of sub-functions such as: Housing and urban planning; Water supply.

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

Expenditures for Public Order and Security constitute 5.2% of the total expenditures planned for 2022, or about 33 billion ALL. The subfunctions include: Police; Courts and Judiciary; Prisons; Fire Service, Emergencies and More.

The three functions with the lowest weight in the budget are: Defense with 3% of total expenditures Recreation, Culture and Religious Affairs with 0.9%; and Environmental Protection with 0.2% of total budget expenditures.

The classification by value does not present any changes compared to previous years. The annual growth shows functions, to which higher budgets are allocated compared with previous budget plans, indicating the Government focus on certain sectors or functions. Thus, an annual comparison shows that Defense and Culture mark an increase on an annual basis in percentage of 26.7 and 31%, the same also applies to New Investments foreseen in these two sectors during 2022.

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

In addition to Functions, the unclassified category is about 25% of the Budget Expenditures of the 2022 Plan. Unclassified in Function are debt service payments; contingency for wage and pension policies; reserve fund; and local government expenditures; and reconstruction fund.

About ALL 157.2 billion are planned for other unclassified expenditures, including local government expenditures in the amount of ALL 60.3 billion. Also, ALL 51 billion are planned expenditures for debt service payments (interest and reserves). The Reconstruction Fund this year is planned at ALL 20 billion. The Reserve Fund is planned at ALL 2.4 billion.

“Source: MFE (2021) 2022 budget law tables
Edited by: Open Data Albania

The plan can be consolidated with changes that vary according to the needs and flexibilities of annual policies and situations. Failure to guarantee certain functions or the exceeding of costs for others is a frequent phenomenon that characterizes the years of crisis, and emergencies.

Download excel: Budget according to Government Functions 2022 planning
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania
Translated by: Etleva Kondakçi