DIRECTIONS OF CHANGES IN THE EXPENDITURE OF POLAND’S AGRICULTURAL BUDGET DURING THE PERIOD OF GOVERNMENTS OF SUBSEQUENT COALITIONS IN 2010-2023

Abstract

The purpose of the article was to indicate the directions of changes that occurred in the expenditures of the Polish agricultural budget in 2010-2023 in quantitative terms. The period adopted for analysis is interesting in that it covers successive coalition governments in Poland. The subject of the study was budget expenditures on agriculture in Poland, broken down into expenditures from the national budget (excluding the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund – ASIF, and with it) and the Budget of European Measures (BEE), taking into account Poland’s total budget expenditures, as well as GDP. The source of empirical materials was data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. An analysis of the structure and dynamics of nominal volumes, as well as those adjusted for inflation (CPI, constant prices of 2023), was applied. The research shows that during the period under analysis, there was a relatively persistent trend of real decrease in the level of total agricultural budget expenditures. The reduction in these expenditures concerned both the volume of domestic and EU funds. The relationship of the agricultural budget to the total budget and GDP also deteriorated significantly. This proves the declining importance of agriculture in the hierarchy of state budget expenditures in the long term and that the agricultural sector in Poland does not benefit proportionally from the effects of GDP growth. These unfavorable trends for agriculture have been somewhat halted in the last two years. If it were not for the financial support from the WBE (which, unfortunately, is also declining), sectoral disparities in the distribution of funds from national income would have grown even more pronounced. The rank of real expenditures on ASIF in the state budget expenditures is also successively decreasing.