This increase is explained in part by the “growth in personnel costs, supplies and external services and goods sold and materials consumed, as opposed to the decrease in current transfers recorded, since capital injections were made in 2018 with no impact on income for the year”, states the Annual Report of the Ministry of Health.


With regard to expenses, the report states that “the variations were not as significant when compared with those occurring in the income component”.


In the “major items”, the increase of 6.1 percent in External Supplies and Services to €4.04 billion, the increase of 5.7 percent in personnel costs to €4.06 billion and the increase of 4.8 per cent to €1.8 billion in the Cost of Goods Sold and Materials Consumed stand out.


Personnel costs represent 39.5 percent of the SNS expenditure structure, while supplies and external services represent 39.2 percent and the cost of goods sold 17.6 percent.


In total, these three items represent 96.3 percent of National Health Service expenditure, according to the report published on the website of the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS).