SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands and Minister of Finance, Román Rodríguez, has advanced this Wednesday that the autonomous budget of 2022 will have a “significantly higher” weight of the investment chapter to promote the “recovery” and will have for the first time indicators by objectives .
In an appearance in parliamentary committee, he commented that the accounts, with a spending ceiling of 8,919 million, 5% more, will also be aimed at “defending the rights of the most vulnerable sectors” and maintaining sectoral policies.
“Recovery is the great task of society”, he pointed out, and for this reason, he said that all the “singularities” of the Canary Islands will be guaranteed, such as the REF, the Statute of Autonomy and the consideration of RUP, plus compliance with the Reactiva Plan and the objectives and priorities set by the State and the EU.
Rodríguez has valued that in 2022 the suspension of the fiscal rules of the budget stability law will be maintained, a “good news” for all administrations because it represents “an opportunity” to increase expenses, although he has made it clear that “there will be no fund covid “for extraordinary expenses after 16,000 million in 2020 and 13,486 million this year.
He commented that the “uncertainty” about the economic situation persists because the pandemic has not ended and “the fifth wave has delayed” the recovery, which has led to a review of the economic predictions, which in the case of the Canary Islands has opted for a moderate view, with an increase of 11.3% of GDP.
Regarding the income block, he highlighted that they come from regional financing, with a total of 5,140 million – 2.8% less -, 1,562 million of fiscal income, 18.4% more, another 223 million of ordinary European funds and 572 million extraordinary programs, plus another 200 million charged to the sentence of the road agreement, “but it will be necessary to negotiate.”
Rodríguez believes that it is a “reasonable and well-contextualized budget”, with room to “continue responding to an unprecedented crisis,” underlining that 2022 will be “better than 2021 and much better than 2020, but not like 2019.”
“THE HURTS WILL HAVE TO BE SHUT UP”
He has indicated that the good deployment of the vaccination campaign is a guarantee for recovery, with more than 80% of the target population, warning that now “the doomsayers and the ill-thought-out will have to shut up” who predicted that it would take four years.
He has also said that in 2021 the fundraising forecasts have been met “more than”, the same as with the distribution of aid to SMEs and the self-employed, above 1,300 million. “More than anyone, more than ever and in record time,” he commented.
Rodríguez has also guaranteed that there will be funds for poverty in the 2022 PGE – “there will be no one who dares to withdraw them” – and a “powerful reflection” on territorialization to “adapt” the budget to the greater impact of the crisis in some territories.
Esther González (NC) has highlighted that the Government has always complied with the calendar to prepare the budgets and in the midst of a pandemic, and those for 2022 will be “realistic and prudent” and aimed at guaranteeing public services, social aid and economic activity.
He pointed out that the budget spends “what the autonomous community has”, “not what it wants”, and allows preserving the ‘health’ of public accounts and opening spending to investments, with mainly European funds, to promote change modeling and job creation on the islands.
ESPINO CLAIMS THE 400 MILLION ROAD JUDGMENT
Vidina Espino, spokesperson for the Mixed Group, has criticized that Rodríguez “has overstepped” the growth of severe poverty in the islands, for which she hopes that there will be “stimuli” to economic recovery, beyond the aid that serves to avoid a “disaster”.
Regarding the sentence of the highway agreement, he has rejected that the Government is only going to demand 200 million when the total debt is 400 million. “Why don’t you claim all of it?” He asked, the same as with the funds from the anti-poverty plan.
Likewise, he has claimed that the elaboration of a budget with indicators by objectives is an amendment of his group.
Melodie Mendoza (ASG) has indicated that the regional accounts will promote economic reactivation, the maintenance of public services and the application of sustainable policies and believes that if the GDP forecast is fulfilled in 2022, in 2023 the levels of wealth would be reached that existed before the pandemic.
Manuel Marrero, spokesman for Sí Podemos, has said that the budgets will be “realistic” and “committed” to public services, biodiversity and job creation, consecrating the “defense” of the most vulnerable groups.
He has commented that the Canary Islands have a great dependence on the regional financing system, and many aspects must be negotiated, and he believes that if there is an “economic comeback” with the high tourism season, the recovery may be faster than in the rest of Spain.
Fernando Enseñat, from the Popular Group, has said that the Government “continues to be anchored in propaganda and self-aggrandizement” by ‘inflating’ income to present an expansive budget “in the midst of the crisis”, when they should eliminate “superfluous spending” to direct it to the productive sectors and job creation.
THE PP REQUESTS “TO TIGHTEN THE BELT”
He said that “it is more comfortable to govern without tightening their belts, as Canary families do” and wondered if the budget is going to solve the problems of severe poverty and long-term unemployment and if they are not going to carry out the investments, since this year they barely reach 15% of execution.
The spokesman for the Nationalist Group, José Miguel Barragán, has commented that inflation presents “worrying data and is growing” due to the cost of electricity and the shopping basket, which adds more “uncertainties” to the preparation of budgets.
Iñaki Álvaro, from the Socialist Group, believes that the economy will return to ‘pre-covid’ levels before the end of the legislature and has valued that the suspension of fiscal rules allows eliminating austerity and guaranteeing public services and aid despite the fact that some political groups voted against it in Congress.
He has supported the increase in the spending ceiling “because the crisis or the pandemic has not ended” and that a moderate measure of GDP growth has been chosen given that the “uncertainties” continue, while he has called for special items for the islands Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the worst hit by the tourist crisis.
