El Salvador Executed Just 27.98% of Public Investment by June
El Salvador · PUBLIC FINANCE
Key Facts
- —Execution El Salvador public investment hit 27.98 percent of the 2026 programme by June.
- —Gap Executed spending trailed the annual plan by US$2,028.94 million at mid-year.
- —Health Only US$26.21 million of US$253.22 million programmed for health was spent.
- —Debt Public debt stood at US$34,179.4 million in June, up 5.9 percent.
- —Ministry Hacienda reports capital outlays at 29.9 percent of allocation through May.
A Universidad de El Salvador report puts capital spending far behind the annual plan at mid-year.
El Salvador public investment reached US$786.52 million by the end of June, the Universidad de El Salvador reported. That equals 27.98 percent of the US$2,815.47 million programmed for the whole of 2026.
What the report measured
The figure comes from the Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, the economic research institute of the Universidad de El Salvador. Its Informe de Coyuntura Económica for June 2026 was published on 26 August 2026.
The institute credits the report to the economist Ricardo Balmore López, and it runs to sixteen pages. It draws on official statistics rather than survey work or leaked documents.
The El Salvador public investment table credits the Dirección de Inversión y Crédito Público at the finance ministry. So the raw numbers are the government’s own, while the reading of them is the university’s.
Other fiscal figures in the report come from the Banco Central de Reserva, the central bank. El Salvador uses the US dollar, so none of these amounts involve a conversion.
The numbers behind 27.98 percent
El Salvador public investment executed US$786.52 million between January and June 2026. The annual programme for the year totals US$2,815.47 million.
The gap at mid-year was therefore US$2,028.94 million, or 72.06 percent of the plan. The comparison is against the full-year target, not against a half-year milestone.
That distinction matters, because six months of a twelve-month plan would imply roughly 50 percent on a straight line. Public works rarely spend on a straight line, and El Salvador is no exception.
El Salvador public investment is also 20 percent higher in cash terms than at the same point in 2025. Spending is rising in dollar terms even as the share of the programme falls short.
Where the money did not move
Social development absorbed US$462.65 million of the US$1,580.40 million programmed, or 29.3 percent. Economic development spent US$318.48 million of US$1,183.19 million.
Public security and justice executed US$5.39 million against US$51.88 million, the weakest of the three blocks. In percentage terms that is 10.4 percent of its annual allocation.
Within the social block, urban and community development was the clear outlier at US$181.43 million. Education and culture accounted for another US$225.63 million of actual spending.
Health, drinking water and sanitation, and the environment sat at the bottom of the table. Each had spent under 11 percent of its programmed allocation by June.
Roads, schools and hospitals
Transport and storage is the single largest line in the programme at US$890.57 million. By June it had spent US$250.78 million, leaving a shortfall of US$639.79 million.
Education and culture was programmed at US$770.77 million and executed US$225.63 million. Health was programmed at US$253.22 million and executed US$26.21 million.
The citizens’ budget guide for 2026 lists the largest single works funded this year. They include the Los Chorros viaduct and road widening at US$116.7 million and the Apopa bypass at US$76.1 million.
A national school building programme is budgeted at US$100.0 million and an early childhood programme at US$170.5 million. The institute does not say which individual projects are behind, so no single works site can be blamed.
What the government reports
The Ministerio de Hacienda publishes its own execution figures on a different basis. Through May 2026 it recorded US$4,384 million of accrued spending, or 41.1 percent of the modified budget.
Within that total, capital investment stood at US$656.8 million, equal to 29.9 percent of its allocation. Current spending ran at 45.4 percent, so the ministry’s own data show the same lag.
On 20 August 2026 the ministry reported US$1,624.8 million invested over the twelve months to May. It put that at 4.2 percent of gross domestic product, the country’s total annual output.
The ministry has framed the pace partly as transfers to municipal works and local development. It had not issued a public reply to the university report by 27 August 2026.
Is a mid-year lag unusual?
El Salvador public investment finished 2025 at US$1,538.61 million, according to ministry data reported in March 2026. That was 49.6 percent of the US$3,100.99 million programmed for that year.
So even a full twelve months of 2025 closed at barely half of the annual plan. Judged against that record, a 27.98 percent reading at mid-year is not an outlier.
Executed investment in 2024 was US$1,127.34 million, and the 2023 figure was US$1,579.31 million. The 2026 programme is larger than any of those outturns, which widens the percentage gap.
Debt, deficit and the pace of spending
Public debt reached US$34,179.4 million in June, up 5.9 percent on a year earlier. Pension debt alone accounted for US$11,669.85 million of that stock.
Debt service to June came to US$1,147.2 million, of which US$936.4 million was interest. Amortisation fell by half, so the lower total masks a rising interest bill.
The non-financial public sector deficit narrowed to US$302.5 million, a fall of 31.3 percent. The institute argues that the improvement rests on stronger revenue rather than spending restraint.
Current spending grew to US$5,060.1 million, with goods and services up 35.4 percent. Capital spending rose only 6.1 percent over the same period.
The IMF programme in the background
The International Monetary Fund approved a 40-month Extended Fund Facility for El Salvador on 26 February 2025. The arrangement is worth about US$1.4 billion and roughly US$113 million was released at once.
The first review closed on 27 June 2025, taking total disbursements to about US$231 million. Later reviews have slipped, and the fund’s deputy managing director said in July 2026 that talks were advancing.
Programme papers target a primary surplus of 1.9 percent of output in 2025 and 2.9 percent in 2026. They also set a floor of 1.5 percent of output for targeted social transfers and programmes.
The Fiscal Sustainability Law aims to bring debt to 80 percent of output by 2030. The institute warns that slow El Salvador public investment limits the boost capital spending can give growth later this year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the 27.98 percent figure actually measure?
It measures spending to 30 June 2026 against the full-year investment programme of US$2,815.47 million. Executed El Salvador public investment came to US$786.52 million.
Who produced the finding?
The Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas of the Universidad de El Salvador published it on 26 August 2026. Its investment table draws on Ministerio de Hacienda data.
Is the government disputing the numbers?
No public rebuttal had appeared by 27 August 2026, and the underlying data are official. The ministry reports capital execution at 29.9 percent of allocation through May.
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Sources
- data.inve.fce.ues.edu.sv
- www.mh.gob.sv
- www.transparenciafiscal.gob.sv
- www.bcr.gob.sv
- www.imf.org
- www.eldiariodehoy.com
- diario.elmundo.sv
- www.infobae.com
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