Tourism

The Covid-19 pandemic shaped 2020 at a social and economic level and has also conditioned the budget, the financial year closing out with a deficit of 49.2 million euros. The amount is lower than the figure initially forecast, due to a higher volume of income at the end of the year from the Government of Catalonia and the capital gains tax.

The figures can also be explained by the application of the first state of emergency, which suspended administrative payment periods, with a huge amount of activity at a standstill, reducing the budget implementation rates.

Despite this reduction, over 96% of the budget has been implemented, which is higher than most municipal councils and regional governments in a normal year. Specifically, the budget implementation rate closed out at 96% in chapters 2 and 4 (current expenditure and current transfers and services), and 96.5% in chapters 6 and 7 (investment made and transfer of capital).

The figure for borrowing was 800 million euros, representing 30.73% of current income, well below the 75% set out by the law on local tax systems. Payment periods for providers are back below 30 days and down to 22.8 days on average.

An exceptional year

The budget settlement for 2020 shows solvent management of public resources. The Full Council found itself obliged to approve an amendment to the budget in July, generating a Covid fund of 90 million euros to address the socio-economic and health emergency.

The last year also saw the Spanish parliament set new goals on budgetary stability which have given greater flexibility to expenditure ceilings for municipalities.