After the summer holidays, the government faces the task of drafting the new General State Budget, which will be presented next October. It will be no easy task for the Minister of Finance to coordinate her consistent policy of budgetary restraint, especially given the challenging outlook for 2004. Forecasts point to moderate economic growth, with GDP expected to grow between 0 and 2% and inflation projected to rise between 0,7 and 2,7%.
It should be noted that next year, the current government will see its actions judged by the electorate twice for the first time: once in the European Parliament elections and again in the municipal elections. This implies pressure from various sectors involved in these electoral battles, especially from local authorities, who will want greater autonomy in their borrowing capacity. However, it is believed that the government's strategy involves maintaining a restrictive economic policy for 2004 at all costs, thus sacrificing a good performance in both elections in order to later "open the coffers" in the 2005 budget, the year of the general elections.
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