In the absence of General State Budgets, the Government is 'pulling' like never before on budget modifications. The Executive modified budget credits for a total of 77.281 billion euros during the first half of 2026, a figure that already exceeds the 76.943 billion recorded in all of 2025.
The main items affected by these modifications are concentrated in public debt, the area of Economy, Social Security, and Defense. The volume reached by June shows to what extent budget modifications have become a central tool for adapting accounts designed three years ago to the needs of 2026.
Public debt concentrates the largest volume
The majority of the modifications identified by June corresponds to public debt, with around 29.600 billion euros. It is followed by the economic area, which concentrates about 15.000 billion, according to the breakdown of the main modified items.
Social Security also figures among the major destinations of budget changes, with about 7.300 billion, while Defense concentrates around 3.800 billion in the modifications recorded during the first half.
The modifications already exceed everything moved in 2025
The accumulated volume in just six months exceeds the total of budget modifications made during the entire previous year. In 2025, the amount reached 76.943 billion, below the 77.281 billion already recorded at the end of June 2026.
The data comes from the execution and budget modification information of the General State Administration, whose monthly information is collected by the General Intervention of the State Administration.
Spain continues with the prorogued Budgets of 2023
The situation has as a backdrop the absence of new General State Budgets. The accounts approved for 2023 continue prorogued, so the Government resorts to different credit modification mechanisms to adapt the items to new needs and spending commitments.
These modifications can take different forms, such as transfers between items, credit expansions, supplements, or extraordinary credits, depending on the operation and its legal and budgetary coverage.
An increasingly used tool to adjust the accounts
The increase in modifications has opened the debate about the weight that these mechanisms are acquiring in a scenario of prolonged extension. The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility has warned on different occasions about the importance of maintaining adequate planning and budget transparency.
The 77.281 billion euros modified until June show that budgetary activity continues to adjust through changes to the extended accounts of 2023, with public debt, Economy, Social Security, and Defense among the areas that concentrate the largest identified movements.