What is recurrent expenditure?

Recurrent expenditure refers to payments made by governments or organizations for all purposes except capital costs. Recurrent expenditure includes payments made on goods and services as well as interest and subsidies.

Recurrent expenditures are typically made more than once, and may even be made on a scheduled basis. Some expenses, such as wages and salaries made to employees by companies, are made periodically on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Recurrent expenditures exclude payments for capital assets, such as stock, bonds and property. Capital and recurrent expenditure are considered to be overall expenditure, and account for all fees and net lending that is doled out by governments.