A collection at maximum and the vigor of the economy in general have also left their mark on regional public accounts. Most of the communities, 11 of 17, entered last year more than they spent. This evolution has strongly reduced its budgetary gap: the regional administration, which has strong expenditure pressures for being responsible for providing basic public services, cut the deficit in more than 12,000 million euros, of about 13.7 billion to just over 1,600. In fact, only in the Basque Country there was an increase in red numbers with respect to the previous exercise. At the other end is Extremadura, which has also achieved the greatest correction in the year, going from a deficit of more than one point to have surplus.
If the figure is measured on GDP, the communities deficit fell from 0.9% from 2023 to 0.1% last year. It is the lowest percentage from the pandemic, when the autonomous administration paradoxically registered one of its best budgetary data. The correction, then, was not due to any adjustment, but to the millionaire transfers received from the State through own funds and the European Union.
Now, the situation is different. The spending canyon of the health crisis is over, but the economy throws. The best result between advanced economies. Employment is vigorous, business benefits grow and collection is at maximum, also driven by inflation that remains above the objective. The Government also deployed a battery of measures to mitigate the coup of the pricing flare that was lit in 2022. All this has raised the resources available to the communities, since it has produced an increase in the transfers of the regional financing system, which are calculated according to future economic forecasts. Regional governments also have the funds of the recovery plan and the other European aid that have historically received.
Even so, the map is heterogeneous. There are communities that closed 2024 with a very bulky deficit and others that strongly adjusted their red numbers. The largest lag is that of the Valencian Community, as usual, since it is the territory that receives less money perhaps by the autonomous financing system. In 2024 he also suffered the impact of the Dana. At the end of the year registered a deficit of 1.68% of GDP. Murcia, another of the autonomies abused by the current financing model, finished the exercise with an imbalance of 1.11%. They are followed by the Basque Country (-0.63%), Catalonia (-0.41%), Madrid (-0.19%) and La Rioja (-0.04%).
The other territories recorded surplus, with Extremadura (+1.59%) and Navarra (+0.97%) at the head. The foral communities received less support during the pandemic, since the resources assigned to the others of the common regime financing system were maintained despite the fall of the activity. Extremadura was also the community that most sanitized its accounts with a correction of almost 2.7 points, since in 2023 its budget hole was greater than 1% of GDP. Andalusia also adjusted its red numbers incisively, cutting them in 1.8 points and closing the year with a 0.7%surplus.
according to the budget closure data presented by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. This result is better than 3% planned and committed to Brussels. However, it rises to 3.15% if the extra expenditure caused by the DANA is added, which the European Commission will not count when reviewing compliance with the budgetary objectives of Spain.
