In 2024, the autonomous communities will receive the largest amount of resources in history. As specified by the fourth vice president and Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, at the meeting of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) held today in Madrid, the central government will contribute 154,467 million from the financing system. There are 20,000 million, 14.9% more than this year. All this without European funds.
This figure, Montero detailed, includes the 134,658 million of payments on account, 8.3% more than in 2023, and the settlement of 2022, which amounts to 20,746 million.
Catalonia, for its part, will be able to count on 29,826 million from the financing system in 2024, 18% more than this year, as specified by the Ministry of Finance to the Generalitat.
As the central government explained at the meeting, “never before have the autonomous communities been so well financed.” In the five years that have passed since the motion of censure, the autonomies have received 40% more resources than in the last five years of Mariano Rajoy’s government, which represents almost 180,000 million more, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.
This historic figure of resources will have to be compatible with a budget adjustment to comply with fiscal rules, which will be in force again next year. In 2020 they were suspended due to the pandemic. For this reason, the Treasury has informed the autonomous communities that they will have to reduce their deficit to 0.1% in 2024, a limit that was already provided for in the Budget Plan sent to Brussels last October.
As transmitted by the Treasury in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, this is one tenth more fiscal margin with respect to the budget balance objective, 0%, set for the Autonomous Communities in the April Stability Program sent to the European Commission. This tenth will be assumed by the general administration of the State.
All the autonomous communities governed by the PP have positioned themselves in today’s meeting against this deficit objective. They consider it unfair and disproportionate, since the central administration reserves a margin of 2.9% of GDP. They consider that an equitable distribution of the budget adjustment would have been more appropriate.
In the run-up to the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, the Treasury has specified to the town councils, in the meeting of the National Commission for Local Administration (CNAL), that they will also have the largest financing in their history. Specifically, local entities will receive 28,557 million in resources during 2024. The figure grows by 22.6% compared to 2023.
