Budgets and finances
We invest responsibly
The budget is the financial reflection of the municipal strategy and priorities, where resources are allocated to the local government’s main programmes and actions.
Barcelona City Council closed out the 2023 financial year with its main economic goals achieved, maintaining a high degree of budget execution at 92.2%, as well as a budget surplus for the first time since the pandemic. Specifically, the excess income compared to expenditure was 51.2 million euros, after closing out the last three years with a deficit caused by the extra municipal efforts to tackle the effects of Covid-19.
Local financial management in Barcelona is backed by the main rating agencies, which have repeatedly vouched for the City Council's financial strength and solvency. These entities’ reports highlight Barcelona’s surplus and its low level of debt, which have enabled the expansive tendency of its budgets.
The entire economic management of the City Council, which includes the services of economy and municipal finance, municipal heritage and the promotion and coordination of companies, consortia and entities that are part of the municipal public sector, is open to the public through different web spaces. The aim is to strengthen transparency mechanisms and safeguard the right to information, accountability and citizen control, three essential tools for ensuring the Council’s commitment to integrity and good governance.
Projects
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2024 Budget proposal:
The new municipal budget proposal reaches 3,807 million euros, some 5.9% higher than the figure for 2023. The budget focuses on guaranteeing social support and welfare for citizens, driving the transformation of the neighbourhoods and adding more vitality to the economy. -
ABC costs:
Barcelona City Council was one of the first in Spain to incorporate the ABC model, an acronym for Activity Based Costing, as a system for calculating the costs of the services it provides, which includes the direct costs of each finalist activity and the indirect costs arising from the structure, and therefore makes it possible to obtain the unit cost indicators of the different municipal facilities and services.
