Social Security sees surplus of €230 million in March

  • Lusa
  • 27 April 2021

"To the surplus of €229.7 million contributed an increase in revenue of €250.4 million, and an increase in expenditure of €1.179 billion," said the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security.

Social Security recorded a surplus of €229.7 million in March, a decrease of €929.4 million, compared to the same period last year justified by the increase in expenditure.

“To the surplus of €229.7 million contributed an increase in revenue of €250.4 million, and an increase in expenditure of €1.179 billion,” the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security said in a statement.

The Ministry headed by Ana Mendes Godinho said the increase in spending “is essentially due to the extraordinary measures adopted to address the socio-economic effects of the pandemic.

At the end of March, effective spending reached €7.520 billion, an increase of 18.6% compared to the same period of the previous year.

“This increase was essentially generated by the measures adopted under the covid-19 pandemic situation, which represent an increase of €804.9 million,” the statement said.

The year-on-year increase in expenditure is also explained by an increase of €134.9 million (up 42.9% compared to March 2020) in expenditure on unemployment benefits, which totalled €449.3 million at the end of this first quarter.

Pensions, for their part, contributed to a year-on-year increase in expenditure of €127.2 million (+3.3% than in March 2020), and there was also an increase in expenditure on social action programmes and benefits of 9.3%, (€40.8 million more than in March 2020).

Expenditure related to parental benefits and sickness benefits and supplements, on the other hand, fell, according to the Ministry of Labour.

Regarding revenue, the data on budget execution until March indicate that this amounted to €7.75 billion, reflecting an increase of 3.3% compared to the same period of 2020.