The debt of the Generalitat at the end of 2023 stood at 57,993 million euros, 5.38% more than the previous year, which represents a net increase of 2,960 million euros, as announced by the Bank of Spain.
The Ministry of Finance has stated that most of this increase responds to the 3,104 million that were requested from the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA) to finance the 3,860 million deficit in 2022.
Of those 3,104 million in FLA provisions, 2,618 million went directly to finance the excess deficit incurred during the year 2022. Added to this are the 395 million that were allocated to financing the reference deficit target for 2023 , set at 0.3% of GDP.
During the two terms of office of the previous Consell, the debt of the Generalitat increased by 42.8%, equivalent to 17,182 million euros, and a large part of that debt was used to finance the excess deficits accumulated since 2016 through FLA provisions. according to the Ministry.
The Generalitat Budget for 2024 reflects an increase of 112% in the interest on the Generalitat’s debt to 870 million.
The majority of the planned increase in the 2024 debt will also be allocated to FLA provisions to finance the excess deficit in 2023, the year of execution of the last budget of the previous Consell.
Specifically, approximately 3,000 of the 3,358 million euros of the total deficit for 2023 exceed the 0.3% set as the reference limit for the autonomous communities.
On the other hand, the Minister of Finance, Ruth Merino, recalled that an important part of the 57,993 million debt of the Generalitat has its origin in the underfinancing accumulated due to the insufficient arrival of resources from the regional financing system.
Regarding the variation in debt in the fourth quarter of 2023, this increased by 1,289 million euros, of which 805 corresponded to provisions of the FLA, and of them the majority (683 million) were allocated to financing a portion of the excess 2022 deficit.
