Zaragoza is the third most indebted city in Spain with 603 million

The debt of public administrations closed 2023 at 1,574 trillion euros, which represents an increase of 4.7% compared to the previous year, but falls to 107.7% of GDP, almost four percentage points less than the rate registered at the end of 2022 (111.6%), according to data confirmed this Wednesday by the Bank of Spain. By town councils, that of Zaragoza is the third most indebted in Spain, with 603 million, after Madrid and Barcelona.

The decrease in the debt-to-GDP ratio also improves by four tenths that foreseen in the Budget Plan, where the Executive estimated that it would stand at 108.1% of GDP for the whole of 2023.

Throughout 2023, the debt has been moderating from a ratio of 111.2% of GDP recorded in the first and second quarters, to 109.8% of GDP in the third quarter and 107.7% of GDP by the end of the year.

Government estimates suggest that The downward path of public debt will continue in the coming yearssince it is expected to drop from 106.3% in 2024, to 105.4% in 2025 and to 104.4% in 2026.

Although it decreases as a percentage of GDP, public debt has increased by 70,955 million euros in the last year (+4.7% year-on-year), exceeding 1,574 billion euros, close to the historical maximum that it marked in the third quarter of 2023 (1,577 billion).

The central administration accumulates the bulk of the debt

By administrations, Public debt increased in all during the final stretch of 2023. Thus, the debt of the Central Administration rose in the fourth quarter to 1,434 billion euros, 5.5% more than a year ago, which represents 98.1% of GDP, compared to 100.9% the previous year. .

For its part, The debt of the autonomous communities grew by 2.6% year-on-yearup to 325,234 million euros in the fourth quarter, equivalent to 22.2% of GDP – compared to 23.6% last year -.

In the case of local corporations, their debt stood at 23,318 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, which represents an increase of 1.2% compared to the same period in 2022. The ratio over GDP was slightly reduced to 1, 6%, compared to 1.7% last year.

Finally, the debt of the Social Security administrations climbed to 116,173 million euros, with an increase of 9.4% in one year. The GDP ratio remains at 7.9%.

The increase in absolute values ​​is due to the loans granted by the State to the General Treasury of Social Security to finance a significant part of its budget imbalance. These loans, as they are financial operations between subsectors, do not affect the total debt of the Public Administrations sector.

According to Government estimates, the debt of the Central Administration and Social Security will be 83.2% of GDP in 2024, to fall to 83% in 2025 and reach 82.8% in 2026. In the case of the autonomous communities , it is estimated that the debt will be 21.7% in 2024, 21% in 2025 and 20.3% in 2026, while that of local entities will be 1.4% in 2024 and 1.3% in 2025 and in 2026.

Valencian Community and Catalonia, among the most indebted

Within the autonomous communities, debt rose in absolute terms in all regions with respect to the year 2022, except the Basque Country, Cantabria and the Balearic Islands.

Catalonia (85,986 million euros), the Valencian Community (57,993 million), Andalusia (38,649 million) and Madrid (35,875 million) continue to concentrate two thirds of all debt in the hands of the autonomous governments in 2023, although it is also due to a population issue.

However, in percentage of GDP, the Valencian Community, with a debt that represents 42.2%, continues to lead the most indebted regions in relation to its wealth, followed by Castilla-La Mancha (31.9%), Region from Murcia (31.2%) and Catalonia, with 31%.

On the contrary, the less in debt In relation to their GDP they are Navarra (12%); Canary Islands (12.2%); Basque Country (12.4%) and the Community of Madrid (12.6%).

Madrid and Barcelona the most indebted town councils

By size of municipalities, those with more than 300,000 inhabitants accumulated a debt of 5,352 million euros in the last quarter of 2023, 337 million more than at the end of 2022.

Specifically, Madrid, with a debt of 1,960 million euros, continues to lead the most indebted local corporations, followed by Barcelona, ​​with 1,333 million, and Zaragoza, with 603 million.