Public Expenditure — Classification and Causes of growth of Public Expenditure

A government budget looks like a single number, but behind it are choices about roads versus subsidies, salaries versus loan repayments, this year's spending versus decades-old debt. Economists sort all of that into a few clean categories — and every category keeps growing over time, for reasons this topic asks you to name.

In two minutes

Public expenditure is all spending by the government, classified chiefly into revenue expenditure and capital expenditure (and, separately, developmental and non-developmental expenditure), and it has grown steadily over time due to population growth, defence and security needs, welfare and development commitments, and rising interest and administrative costs.

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