The budget execution of the State in Catalonia in the first half of 2022 was about 16% of what was expected if the compensation from Abertis paid this year is not taken into account. They are 348 million euros. If only the works carried out by the Ministry of Transport are taken into account, the investment is 314 million. It is the largest volume of investment of all the Spanish autonomies, according to data calculated by the ministry. In the case of Madrid, the investment by Transport is lower than that of Catalonia (216 million) but the percentage of execution is significantly higher (41%).
When the payment of 1,069 million to Abertis is accounted for, budget execution skyrockets to 64% globally and close to 70% in the specific area of ??the Ministry of Transport. Ministry sources said that all the compensation from the Atlantia and ACS concessionaire is imputed to Catalonia since it was in the community where the works were carried out.
Another way to analyze the execution figure of the Ministry of Transport is to put the amount allocated to Catalonia with that of the rest of Spain. In that case, in the first six months of the year, 14% of everything that was invested in Spain was made in Catalonia.
In 2021, the execution of the State touched the ground in Catalonia and the sky in Madrid since the real investment in the community that houses the capital was 2,086 million, triple the Catalan (740 million). These figures are the result of an abnormally low execution in Catalonia (35.7%) compared to one of 184.3% in Madrid. In Catalonia, six euros out of ten committed in 2021 never arrived. On the other hand, in Madrid not only did those ten euros arrive, but they were accompanied by an extra eight as a gift.
According to data compiled by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the investment made in Catalonia in the second year of the pandemic is the lowest since 2016. In contrast, in the case of Madrid it is the highest in the historical series.
The low real investment last year means that the weight of investments in Catalonia with respect to the total that can be regionalized by autonomous communities sinks to 9%. That percentage is half the weight of the community in GDP (19%), which is the reference that the Generalitat and the Catalan economic world usually use to demand the minimum investment for the community. It is the percentage that also appeared in the last Statute of Autonomy and that was never fulfilled. If analyzed in perspective, Catalonia had the lowest percentage since 2016, when Mariano Rajoy’s PP governed.
The Chamber of Commerce maintains that Madrid receives greater investment due to the weight of the ministries and the State Administration in the capital. Only last year, Madrid took one out of every four euros destined for all the autonomous communities. In addition, there is an investment package that cannot be regionalized by autonomies, most of which end up being carried out in Madrid as well.
If the period of the last seven years (2015-2021) is taken, Catalonia received real investments worth 5,547 million, while Madrid obtained 8,680 million. This means that to close the gap created in just six years and at the current rate of investment in Catalonia, Madrid would have to spend more than four years without receiving a single euro.
The calculations of the Chamber of Commerce show that last year Catalonia was the community in which the degree of execution was lowest: 35.7%. The Chamber recalled yesterday that what happened last year is a constant over the years: in the period 2015-2021 in Catalonia 60.3% was executed while in the State as a whole it was 74.2% and in Madrid of 128.7%.
There are other ways to approach the investment figures that is to put them in relation to the population or the GDP generated by each community. In 2021, the investment per inhabitant in Catalonia was 95 euros compared to 309 euros in Madrid. In the case of GDP, the resources spent in the community in 2021 were equivalent to 0.35% in the case of Catalonia and 0.96% in Madrid.
