Catalonia executed almost 90% of spending plan budgeted for 2023

The Catalan government executed 87.2% of the investments planned in the 2023 budgets, according to data published on Wednesday by the Department of Finance.

In total, the executive spent €1.672 billion on investments forecast in the initial annual budget, a figure that rises to €2.162 billion if European funds are taken into account.

The percentage contrasts with that of Spain, which according to the latest available data corresponding to the first half of last year, only fulfilled 16.3% of the planned investments in Catalonia.

The figures are still provisional and may vary slightly.

Including projects financed with European Union funds, the Catalan government and the public bodies that depend on it executed 90% of planned investments. 

The acting Economy Minister, Natàlia Mas Guix, noted that in the last year, the deployment of European funds was accelerated, something which will continue to be the case until 2026.

Including those European funds, the Catalan government invested the equivalent of €274 per Catalan last year, €60 more than the previous year.

With the data, Mas Guix pointed out that the "progressive recovery" seen over the past year has continued after the "depression" caused by the financial crisis. According to the department, the investment figures for 2023 were once again the highest in the last decade, surpassing those for 2022.

By department, health received 29.9% of the government's total investment, with €646 million.

Transport policies were second, (€571.4 million, 26.4% of the total), followed by education (€200.2 million, 9.3%), telecommunications (€138.9 million, 6.4%), housing (€116.9 million, 5.4%) and research and innovation (€79.6 million, 3.7%).

Calls for a new financing model

The degree of execution was similar to that of the five-year period 2018-2022 when the figure stood at an average of 86.8% according to the government's calculations.

In this regard, the acting minister contrasted the data with those of the Spanish government's spending in Catalonia.

Mas Guix railed against the "opacity" of the Spanish executive in its spending in Catalonia, calling it "totally unacceptable." She assured that in the same period, Spain only executed half of investments it had budgeted for in the territory. According to Mas Guix, Spain has avoided investing "more than €4 billion."

"Who suffers the consequences of this negligence is the public and the business world, and the railway infrastructure is a good example," she said.

With the financing model of Catalonia in the middle of the current political debate in Spain, the Economy Minister said the current system "limits the capacity" to allocate more resources to investments.

"Spain's non-compliance is increasing the deficit and this is harming infrastructure, the welfare state, and the potential of our economy," she added. "Only by having the key to the box will we be able to guarantee adequate public investment."