A. M. 
The deadline for the Ministry of Finance to submit the 2026 national budget proposal to the Legislative Assembly is september 30, complying with the country’s legal deadlines.
Last year, the main innovation was that the 2025 budget proposal was designed and approved for the first time in decades without requiring borrowing, fully financed with national revenues.
Salvadoran law requires the Ministry of Finance to submit the draft General National Budget to the Legislative Assembly no later than september 30 of each year, allowing for the necessary analysis and debate prior to its approval for the following fiscal year.
Current tax collection performance
According to the most recent official data, current revenues and contributions reached $5,132.4 million at the end of july 2025, an 8.1% increase compared to the same period in 2024. The main drivers of this increase were the Value Added Tax (VAT), with $2,215.6 million (+9.1%), and the Income Tax (ISR), which reached $2,255.2 million (+6.9%).
This dynamic collection has allowed the year’s targets to be exceeded by 0.5% and supports new fiscal sustainability goals.
Context and expectations for the 2026 budget
Given this background and the country’s strong tax performance, the expectation is that the 2026 draft budget will be drafted under the same principles of self-financing, prioritizing social investment and the orderly management of public accounts.
September 30th thus becomes a key date to determine whether the trend of fiscal discipline continues and how the commitments made in the recent Fiscal Sustainability Law, which seeks to consolidate the country’s financial independence, will be realized.
Historic 2025 budget proposal
In 2024, the Assembly highlighted the presentation of a budget with no funding gap, that is, one fully covered by the country’s ordinary revenues. The 2025 spending plan totaled $9.663 billion and became a fiscal milestone: El Salvador did not resort to external debt or bond issuance for current spending, reinforcing its commitment to fiscal responsibility and the sustainability of public finances.
This decision marked a shift in national economic policy, reflecting the goal of financial independence and discipline in the use of public resources.
