2023-07-10 13:51:20
BarcelonaThe Generalitat de Catalunya executed more than eight out of every ten euros planned for investments in 2022, according to data published this Monday by the Department of Economy and Finance. So, the Catalan government provides figures that follow the line of previous years while waiting for the Spanish government to publish its own, which were initially supposed to be released last month, but which have finally been postponed.
Execution of investments in Catalonia
Annual percentage of liquidated investments according to the budgets of the Generalitat and the State
Specifically, the Generalitat and the public bodies that depend on it invested 1,555 million euros of the 1,816 million planned in last year’s accounts, which represents 85.6%. These 1,555 million represent an increase of almost 18% compared to the real investment of 2021. “It is a high compliance in line with the historical trajectory of the Generalitat”, declared the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, about the figures for last year.
These data, which are still provisional, do not include the planned investments within the European Next Generation Funds (NGEU). The Catalan budget for 2022 provided for up to 2,142 million in income from the NGEU for all kinds of projects, both through the React funds, which are those that the autonomous administrations can request directly from Brussels, and through the Resolution and Resilience Mechanism (MRR), managed by the Spanish government, which transfers the funds to the communities. The Department of Territory, which brings together a good part of the public works in infrastructure, was to receive 299 million, according to the accounts.
Criticism of the Spanish government
The Department of Economy has taken the opportunity to charge against the Spanish government. In the statement in which it provided the data, the Generalitat recalled that the “good rate of execution” of the Catalan executive “contrasts with the low execution of the State”. In this sense, the Catalan government has pointed out that between 2015 and 2021 the average execution of investments was 81.6% in the case of the Generalitat, but only 62.3% for state investments in Catalonia, while, on average, in Madrid the State executes more and more than planned: 122%.
Initially, the State had to publish the execution data for the entire 2022 budget last May 30, two days after the municipal elections that led to the calling of the general elections for next July 23 by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. However, the Ministry of Finance decided to postpone the publication of the data, which are still not public. “He didn’t give us any explanation,” Mas recalled about the state government’s decision. “It is an element that we consider inexplicable, because it compromises a fundamental pillar of the management of public funds, such as transparency,” he added in statements to the ACN.
The last year with complete data is 2021, when the implementation of the State in Catalonia reached its historical minimum, since it only liquidated 35% of the total budgeted. In this sense, Mas has once again called for “a common front” to demand a higher level of real investment from the Spanish executive. “The economic and social agents have accompanied us, but enough must be said,” the minister assured. According to the Generalitat, the lack of implementation has meant that Catalonia has stopped receiving 3.7 billion euros since 2015.
In response to the criticism of the Generalitat, the spokeswoman of the PSC in the Parliament, Alícia Romero, replied to the minister in a message on Twitter, arguing that the Catalan government “makes few direct investments”, since “it transfers the resources so that they make them their companies”, and detailed that five public entities controlled by the Generalitat (FGC, ACA, Ifercat, Incasòl and Infraestructures.cat) have had execution percentages in previous years below 85% in most cases.
However, sources from the Department of Economy have confirmed to ARA that the 2022 data published this Monday are for the entire public sector of the Catalan administration and, therefore, also include the five public companies mentioned by Romero. In addition, the data provided by the socialist leader include budget increases and do not take as a reference the initial budget, which is the reference to account for the execution that is routinely used by all administrations, including the Catalan and Spanish executives.
Railway investments
The railway investments are the ones that take a bigger part of the pie, especially line 9 of the Barcelona metro, to which the Generalitat allocated more than 65 million euros in 2022 in the construction of several sections that are still are not finished (at the moment, the one to join the Lesseps and Zona Universitària stations). This infrastructure is one of the major pending subjects in terms of mobility in the metropolitan area. The cost of finishing the line is estimated at 926 million between 2022 and 2027, when it should be fully operational.
In this aspect, Mas has also charged against the State, since most of the unliquidated investments by Madrid in Catalonia “had to go to improve the infrastructure of Adif and Renfe”. According to Mas, this low execution “penalizes the day-to-day lives of citizens and puts a brake on Catalonia’s growth potential”.
The second most important investment was the purchase of rolling stock (coaches) for the Generalitat Railway lines in the metropolitan area, while the remodeling of two hospitals, Clínic de Barcelona and Viladecans, required 26 and 20 million euros, respectively. The Barcelona Education Consortium and the Department of Education have jointly executed 28 million, the Housing Agency acquired housing for social uses for 26 million and new investments in the Segarra-Garrigues irrigation system grabbed 23 million .
In total, the data for 2022 also represent a recovery of the Generalitat’s investment per inhabitant, which in 2022 stood at 199 euros per person, 30 euros per capita more than in 2021 and well above the minimum recorded in 2016, when it did not reach 97 euros per person.
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