SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE/MADRID, March 31. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Canary Islands closed last year as one of the ten autonomous communities with a surplus of 210 million, 0.50% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 15% more than the previous year, when it reached 182 million, according to data budget execution of public administrations presented this Thursday at a press conference by the Minister of Finance and Public Administration, María Jesús Montero.
In total, the deficit of all public administrations (AAPP) closed 2021 at 6.76% of GDP, 3.3 percentage points below the figure for 2020, and stood at 81,521 million euros, which represents a decrease almost 28% compared to the previous year. Including Sareb, the public deficit stood at 6.87% of GDP.
The final data is 1.6 points below the Government estimate (8.4%) and represents the largest reduction recorded in the historical series, after registering a significant drop compared to 2020, when the deficit reached 10.09 % –not including Sareb–, the second highest figure in history.
The head of the Treasury has highlighted that the confirmed closing figure has improved the results of the estimates of international organizations, as well as those of the data itself committed by the Government to Brussels.
According to Montero, this slack now allows us to face the challenges arising from the war in Ukraine and apply the ‘National Plan’ to respond to the economic impact of the conflict, which includes the extension of tax rebates on the electricity bill or fuel rebates .
THE CCAA, ALMOST IN BALANCE
By subsectors, the Central Administration closed with a deficit of 72,133 million (5.99% of GDP) without counting financial aid; the communities register a deficit of 334 million (0.03% of GDP); local entities reach a surplus of 3,271 million (0.27% of GDP); and the Social Security Funds obtain a deficit of 12,325 million (1.02% of GDP).
On the resources side, in national accounting terms, revenues have increased by 13.2% (61,458 million) mainly due to higher tax revenues (39,328 million), as well as the positive evolution of social contributions, which grow by 6.3%.
On the expenditure side, which has increased by 5.2% (excluding financial aid), the following items that caused this behavior should be highlighted: intermediate consumption (7%), compensation of employees (4.9%), training gross capital (8.2%) and other jobs (47.9%).
STATE DEFICIT ENDS THE YEAR AT 6.14% OF GDP
In 2021 the State has registered a deficit equivalent to 6.14% of GDP, compared to 7.56% in 2020, including financial aid. In this way, the deficit stands at 73,972 million, which represents a decrease of 12.8% compared to the 84,799 million in the same period of the previous year. This result is due to a robust increase in non-financial income of 20.3%, compared to the behavior of expenses, which grew at a slower rate of 9.8%.
TAX COLLECTION GROWS MORE THAN 21%
Specifically, non-financial resources stand at 219,620 million, which is 20.3% more compared to the same period in 2020. The strong growth in taxes stands out, reaching 181,367 million, 21.4% more compared to December 2020 due to the economic reactivation.
The remuneration of employees grows 3.1%. This heading, which amounts to 20,173 million, includes the 0.9% salary increase for civil servants for this year compared to a 2% salary increase in 2020. For its part, accrued interest grew by 3.8% to stand at at 23,238 million.
Social benefits other than social transfers in kind have been 20,208 million, with a year-on-year increase of 5%, affected by the increase in spending on Passive Class pensions, a figure that includes the compensatory payment for deviation from the CPI for the year 2021 of approximately 267 million.
MORE THAN 35,000 MILLION SPENDING LINKED TO COVID
According to the data published by the Treasury, the Covid expenditure of the Public Administrations as a whole reaches 35,728 million in 2021, 19% lower than the 43,875 million registered in 2020. Of this total, the Covid-19 expenditure associated with the State It has been 33,414 million, that is, 94% of the total, of which 27,232 million have been transferred to other subsectors.
The Covid expenditure of Social Security has risen to 10,496 million euros, less than the 27,831 million in 2020, while the autonomous communities have incurred a Covid expenditure of 18,305 million, above the 13,360 million in 2020. Finally, the Entities Locals have executed 745 million of Covid spending, below the 1,254 million of the previous year.
The autonomous communities have managed to close with budget balance by registering a negative balance of just 334 million, which represents 0.03% of GDP, compared to the deficit of 0.22% in 2020.
Specifically, the income of the regional administration increased by 9.6% year-on-year, that is, 19,672 million. This increase is mainly due to the greater financing received from the State, which has risen by 6.6%, to 110,538 million. In fact, the transfers received from the State represent 49.3% of the subsector’s resources.
10 COMMUNITIES WITH SURPLUS
At the close of the financial year, there are ten autonomous communities that register a surplus: Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Madrid, Navarra, La Rioja and the Basque Country.
Regarding Covid-19 expenses, according to the information transmitted by the autonomous communities, at the end of December, around 18,300 million correspond to expenses derived from the pandemic, mostly of a socio-health, educational and social nature. of direct aid to the self-employed and companies, mainly those corresponding to the Covid line.
Until January 21, 2022, 11,330 million euros from European funds have been allocated to the autonomous communities through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, being Andalusia (1,923 million), Catalonia (1,608 million), the Community of Madrid (1,233 million) and the Valencian Community (1,060 million) are the regions that have received the most funds.
LOCAL ENTITIES: SURPLUSES SINCE 2012
On its side, the Local Administration presents a surplus of 3,271 million, which represents 0.27% of GDP, somewhat higher in absolute terms than that registered in 2020 (2,922 million), which also stood at 0.26% of GDP. GDP. This subsector has been posting surpluses since 2012, against a budget stability target of 0%.
Analyzing the behavior of income, it is observed that these have experienced an increase of 7.4% compared to 2020, which represents an increase of 5,507 million. An improvement motivated by higher tax resources, which grew by 7.7%.
SOCIAL SECURITY REVENUE GROWTH
For their part, the Social Security Funds recorded a sharp decline, with a deficit at the end of the year of 12,325 million, compared to the deficit of 29,344 million reached in 2020. In terms of GDP, the deficit stands at 1.02 %, while in 2020 a deficit of 2.62% was reached.
This better performance is a consequence of a growth in income of 6.8% –especially due to the good performance of contributions with growth also of 6.8% and the 7.2% increase in transfers received from the State –, compared to the decrease recorded in expenses of 1.8%, due to lower Covid-19 spending, which has gone from 27,831 million at the end of December 2020 to 10,496 million in 2021.