The debt of the CCAA with the State grew by 40% in the last decade, going from 18% in 2012 to 58% at the end of 2022

A report indicates that the debt has become a political condition for negotiations with the Government and not only an economic one.

MADRID, 10 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The public debt that the Autonomous Communities have with the State has increased by 40.5% in the last decade, going from 18% in 2012 to 58.6% at the end of 2022. In this context , Catalonia is positioned as the community most indebted to the central Administration in the midst of the debate on its forgiveness after the agreement between PSOE and ERC that will forgive up to 20% of debt.

This is reflected in the Autonomous Communities Report, a study prepared by the Barcelona Public Law Observatory that analyzes the management of regional governments and publishes the evolution of the communities' debt with the State since 2012.

In this context, the study collects this data from the Bank of Spain and places 2012 as the year in which the autonomous communities had the least amount of debt with the State in the last decade, with 18.1%.

However, from that date onwards, there was a progressive increase in the percentage of public debt with the State, placing the years 2018 and 2019 with the worst figures, 61.1% debt. Subsequently, there has been a slight decrease until the debt volume stands at 58.6% in 2022.

According to the study, this extension of the debt "distorts" the behavior of the Autonomous Communities and promotes negotiation by the communities with the central Executive. Debt is no longer treated as a mere economic relationship and becomes a condition for negotiations.

What they explain is that the autonomous communities have incentives to renegotiate payments, "because they have a reasonable expectation of greater flexibility from the central government."

"In addition, all possible debt renegotiations are treated not as a mere economic relationship between creditor and debtor, but other conditions such as political pressures and tensions in intergovernmental relations become relevant," they emphasize.

In any case, during the year 2022 the autonomous communities with the highest debt were Catalonia, with more than 80,000 million euros, followed by the Valencian Community, with more than 50,000 million, Andalusia and Madrid.

These figures come to light in the midst of the debate over the forgiveness of the debt owed to Catalonia included in the investiture agreement between the PSOE and ERC in which reference was made to the State assuming up to 20%, some 15 billion, of the debt that Catalonia has with the Central Administration, plus 1,300 million in interest savings.

Something that has raised criticism among some regional leaders for negotiating this debt forgiveness bilaterally, although the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, guaranteed that this measure will be applicable to all communities, regardless of whether or not they are covered by the Liquidity Fund. Autonomous Region (FLA).

According to this study, the same thing happens with the public debt per inhabitant. The year 2022 closed with Catalonia as the Autonomous Community with the highest debt per capita, up to 10,981 million euros per inhabitant and also placed above the average in the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia and Aragon.

And on the other hand, the three communities with the lowest public debt per capita in 2022 have been Andalusia with 4,433 euros, Asturias with 4,199 euros, while the Canary Islands are the territory with the lowest deficit to be distributed among its inhabitants: 2,873 euros per capita.