The detailed report of the territorial distribution of state investment and its execution in the Valencian Community, known this week, generates satiety among companies and unions in the Valencian Community. A reaction that adds to the one that the majority of Valencian political parties transferred on Tuesday, with the exception of the PSPV, with a clear condemnation for the low execution of the State budget in this autonomy.
The Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) observes the figures known these days as a "constant" and although it notes that the Valencian is not the only affected autonomy, it insists on remembering that it is "the one that suffers the most from the consequences of this delay in the execution because it is aggravated by the unfair underfunding”.
The look towards regional financing is also incorporated by the CCOO-PV in its response. Ana García, her general secretary, declares that "we have a double penalty, that of the budgetary execution of state investments and the financing model, which is really weighing down our economy." For this reason, she asks for "responsibility", since she believes that not doing so becomes "a lack of respect for the Valencian people".
Apart from the already heavy burden that underfinancing entails for the public coffers, the economic agents observe that this lack of execution damages the competitiveness of the Valencian economy.
In this regard, CEV sources point out that it is "an offense to the citizens" of the Community, as well as "a burden for our companies that need to carry out infrastructure works so as not to continue losing levels of competitiveness compared to other territories".
Ismael Sáez, general secretary of UGT-PV, also speaks of competitiveness, who wonders who is attributable to the delays that occur in investments, for example, in works related to the Mediterranean corridor or with State ports.
“We regret that infrastructures that could improve our competitiveness are not being built”, explains Sáez to La Vanguardia, who goes one step further in his response to point out that “infrastructures are decisive for the economy of the Valencian Community” and, in that speech , also includes the port of Valencia. "I defend that there are infrastructures that make life easier for people, and I believe that the port of Valencia is an infrastructure that forms part of this discourse", he adds.
Almost coinciding with the report of the General Intervention of the State, the last document of the Foundation for Studies of Applied Economy (Fedea) directed by Ángel de la Fuente, underlined the difficulties of the Valencian Administration.
The study Autonomous finances in 2021 and between 2003 and 2021 highlights that the Valencian Community has managed to increase its spending per capita approaching the average despite the obvious difficulties of underfunding.
However, the report indicates that, while in current expenditure net of interest (which could be a reasonable indicator of the level of provision of services by regional administrations) autonomy is already above average, in terms of real investment (equity operations) is still a long way off.
Although it is true that the gap has been decreasing since 2009, the evolution of total spending is 127 per inhabitant compared to 134 of the national average.
In other words, an effort has been made to increase spending on the provision of services (to the point of being above average) but the lack of investment in the regional budget still places the Valencian Community behind the average of the autonomies in terms of regional spending per inhabitant.
In addition, the report explains that this extra effort to reach the average in a region that, according to all reports, is at the bottom in the distribution of regional financing has consequences.
Fedea explains that ten of the Autonomous Communities presented a surplus in 2021 despite the arrival of the pandemic and four more registered a deficit of less than two tenths of GDP. However, it details that the only communities with a significant deficit are the two Mediterranean regions that usually present the highest deficits (Valencia and Murcia), followed at a great distance by Catalonia.
But there is still more. The study points out that, at present, "the least indebted autonomies in relation to their GDP are Madrid, the Canary Islands and the regional communities, while those that bear a greater debt burden are Murcia, Catalonia, Castilla la Mancha and, above all, , Valencia, which is close to a worrying 50% of GDP”.
