Okuzeka
Public Administration vocabulary · Public Budgets and Finance

Public spending

Meaning in public administration, with examples

nounCore term

In public administration, public spending means: Money spent by the government and other public bodies on services, salaries, investment and benefits; formal texts often call it public expenditure.

In Turkish: kamu harcamaları, kamu harcaması

How it is used

A common phrase in news and budget documents. Public spending rises, falls, is cut, controlled or reviewed. Formal reports prefer public expenditure; economists also distinguish current spending from capital spending (investment).

Example sentences

  1. Health and education make up almost half of public spending.

  2. The review will look at whether public spending on roads is delivering results.

Common collocations

  • cut public spending
  • public spending review
  • level of public spending
  • control public spending
  • budgetA plan showing how much money a government or public body expects to receive and how it will spend that money over a set period, usually one year.
  • revenueMoney that a government or public body receives, mainly from taxes but also from fees, charges, fines and the sale of assets.
  • budget deficitThe amount by which a government's spending is greater than its revenue in a given year; the opposite is a budget surplus.
  • value for moneyGetting the best possible result from public money, considering not only the price but also quality, efficiency and how well the spending achieves its aims.

More terms: Public Budgets and Finance

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: