Budgetary spending on personnel triples in 4 years

Spending on personnel from the public budget has tripled over the last four years, to 7.7 billion euros in 2007, and continues to increase. The 1.4 million budget-paid employees cost the state 7.7 billion euros last year, money that comes from the consolidated general budget, compared with 2.4 billion euros in 2004 – an increase in budgetary expenses by 3.2 times in only four years, according to the Economy and Finance Ministry. The increase was caused by the recruitment of extra staff and by the salary boom in the public sector that started in 2004-2005. This year, the budget passed by the Parliament stipulates a strong slowdown in the growth rate of such spending.