The deployment of the European Next Generation funds has reduced the degree of execution of investments in Catalonia in 2023. In the first 11 months of last year, if the aforementioned Next Generation funds are discounted, the execution of the rest of the budgeted investments was 62 .4% compared to 87% in the same period of the previous year. Although the level of execution usually accelerates in December, the truth is that with one month left until the end of the year, more than a third remained to be spent.
The Department of Economy defends that to compare it is better to analyze the data without European aid funds because as these can be executed over several years they can distort the comparison.
When European funds are incorporated, the execution without accounting for December grows to 68%. Of the 1,289.2 million planned in the initial budget of the Generalitat, 874.1 million have been executed, which is 23% more. Although this initial budget was expanded to 2,036.6 million, so in relation to that amount the execution is even lower.
The Generalitat usually spends more than the State in Catalonia compared to what was budgeted. In recent months, the Ministry of Finance has carried out an information blackout on the data of the aforementioned execution of the investment by communities, so it cannot be compared. The Generalitat, on the other hand, offers monthly data. The Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, has criticized on different occasions the recently promoted Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, for opacity in the data and for hiding information to which society has the right in order to know the degree of compliance. of the policies that are announced.
In the expenses chapter, the increase in the amount for remuneration stands out, increasing by 6.5%, to more than 9,000 million euros. The Generalitat's execution report specifies that part of the increase is due to "the increase in the number of teachers for the new school year and health personnel." The growth in interest payments also stands out. It increased by 114 million. It's 20% more.
The other side of the coin of budget execution is the evolution of income. In the first eleven months of 2023, the drop in tax collection linked to real estate activity once again stands out due to the decrease in sales as a result of the rise in rates that increases the cost of mortgages. Revenue from taxes on property transfers and on documented legal acts fell, in accumulated terms, by 13.8% and 21.2%, respectively. The report highlights that these lower incomes reflect “the decline in the real estate sector” and specify that “the drop in collections has been getting worse since May.”
Wealth tax collection remains stable compared to the previous year as it only grew by 1%, to 692 million.
In the case of the inheritance and donation tax, the Agència Tributària de Catalunya (ATC) collected 5.7% more in the first 11 months of the year, reaching 894 million. The increase in income derived from this tax occurs at a time when several autonomous communities governed by the PP have eliminated the aforementioned figure for the majority of taxpayers. In the report, the Department of Economy explains that the increase in collection is due to “the growth in the number of filers as well as the value of inheritances.”
Non-financial income until November 2023 was 32,158.2 million euros, which represents 12.6% more than in the same period of the previous year. The improvement is due, among other factors, to the liquidation of the financing model that contributed just over 2,000 million extra compared to 0 in the previous year. Advance payments from the financing model increased by 11% while the aforementioned reduction in income linked to housing stands out. Last year there was also an extra item of income for State compensation derived from the loss of VAT collection corresponding to 2017.
