Upon the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty in 1700 with Philip V, the treasury was centralized, creating the position of General Treasurer of the Kingdom.

[1] The directorate-general was not inaugurated until August 4, 1825, and during the period from its creation until that date, it was still called the General Treasury of the Kingdom.

Likewise, it was in charge of paying debts and authorizing payments, including those of the Army, as well as making budgetary and expenditure forecasts.

[5] Since the law of April 29, 1855, there was a permanent commission of six deputies of the Cortes charged with supervising the cargas de justicia—payment obligations contracted by the State in order to compensate the holders of royal donations and privileges, or of rights alienated from the Crown—paid by the Government through the budget and whose administrative body was the directorate-general for the Treasury.

On March 13, 1875,[9] the directorate-general lost the powers it had over the Mint Houses (Casas de la Moneda) that were transferred to the Undersecretariat of Finance and recovered them on February 14, 1882.

A Royal Order defined the directorate-general as "the center responsible for covering public obligations and services with the natural income of the budget, and with the funds acquired through banking operations, when those are not sufficient".

[16] This directorate-general was made up of the deputy directorates-general for the Treasury; for the Public Debt and for the Passive Classes and the General Deposit Fund.