Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias present State Budget for rebuilding country and modernising economy

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

During an appearance alongside the Second Vice-President ahead of the meeting of Cabinet at Moncloa Palace, the President of the Government said that this is "the progressive and country-focused budget that Spain needs", an "urgent" budget and "absolutely exceptional given the context in which it is being approved".

The President of the Government highlighted three main objectives in the draft budget: reconstruction following the health, economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19; modernisation of the productive model to guarantee more solid growth; and strengthening of the Welfare State in such areas as healthcare, pensions and the Minimum Living Income.

"Following the heavy blow from this pandemic, we can either withdraw into austerity and cut-backs or get back up and move on with renewed strength", said Pedro Sánchez. In this regard, the budget for 2021 includes the largest social investment in history: 239.77 billion euros, an increase of 10.3% on the previous budget. This amount includes the advance of the 27 billion euros from European funds, which will be channelled through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe evidence given by Pedro Sánchez for a "great change" heralded by this budget included a 70.2% increase in investment in education, an extraordinary injection of 5.11 billion euros for civilian R&D+i, almost 12 billion euros to implement "green policies" and a 114% increase in infrastructure investment.

There will also be a highly significant increase under headings targeted at industry and energy, financial aid to business, tourism and SMEs, housing, farming and fishing, culture, healthcare - principally for the purchase of vaccines and strengthening primary healthcare - and the fight against poverty, among other things.

The President of the Government also stressed that public sector wages and pensions will rise by 0.9%, in line with the forecast increase in prices, thereby enabling recipients to maintain their purchasing power. Furthermore, non-contributory pensions will go up by 1.8% and over three billion euros will be allocated to the Minimum Living Income.

Non official translation