The main takeaway of the budget, according to Chamber of Commerce director Carlo Thelen, is that there is a lot of positive information in the budget legislation. However, the Chamber of Commerce highlighted that the government was slightly too optimistic in certain categories.
Thelen explained that the government could have been more cautious in certain areas, especially in the long-term optimistic economic growth. Thelen believed that the government had perhaps underestimated the risks.
The Chamber of Commerce also criticised that the government budget project does not outline the mid-term and long-term funding of pensions. The chamber also noted that the state's surplus in 2018 was due to businesses performing well.
The Chamber of Commerce finally pointed out that the last government's future pact should have seen savings of up to €1.5 billion by 2018, which actually transpired to be €567 million. 70% of this amount was due to VAT increases.
