The Secretariat of State for Budget and Expenditure was established by prime minister
José María Aznar in May 1996. At that time, the
Secretary of State for Finance was directly responsible for budget management, through a secretary-general, known from 1982 to 1984 as Secretary-General for Budget and Public Spending and from 1986 to 1996 as Secretary-General for Planning and Budget. In 1996, the prime minister raised the administrative rank of this body and separated it from the State Secretary of Finance. In 2004, prime minister
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero merged the state secretaries for finance and budget and the new State Secretariat for Finance and Budget assumed this responsibilities, through the General Secretariat for Budget and Expenditure until December 2011, when prime minister
Mariano Rajoy returned to the 1996–2004 structure that today exists. Since its creation in 1996, the Secretariat of State had managed the European Union funds, however, in December 2023 finance minister
María Jesús Montero assumed this powers directly through a General Secretariat for European Funds. In exchange, the secretary of state was given back authority over the
Office of the Comptroller General, which since 2018 had been the responsibility of the Ministry's under-secretary. == Organization ==