The Corporation pays the last installment of its last financial credit in December. The budget item that until now was dedicated to paying off the debt will be used in 2023 to reinforce services such as street cleaning, lifeguards on beaches and the opening of libraries.
The Agüimes City Council will close the year 2022 with zero debt after settling the last financial loan it had outstanding with the bank. This December, the Corporation paid the last of the installments corresponding to the 2,5 million euros that it requested from a financial entity to accelerate the construction of the municipal Auditorium.
This loan was the last one that was kept alive with the bank, after the effort made for several years to reduce municipal debt. In 2019, the Agüimes City Council had pending to amortize 715.000 euros of financial debt, dedicating about 270.000 euros per year of its budget to the payment of pending installments. Starting in 2023, not a single euro will be spent on this purpose.
The budget savings generated with the liquidation of this last credit will be reinvested to reinforce services such as street cleaning, the opening of libraries and cultural centers, surveillance and lifeguards on beaches or the maintenance of parks and gardens, as stated in the budgets already approved by the municipal plenary session. These are precisely the municipal services that will see their funds improved the most in the expenditure forecast for next year.
The zero debt will also be reflected in the public reports that each year evaluate the financial health of the municipalities of the Canary Islands, placing Agüimes among the healthiest in the Autonomous Community. In fact, in 2016, the Corporation started with a debt per inhabitant of 176,8 euros, while in 2020 it dropped to 102,2 euros for each resident of Agüimes. In 2023 this heading will already be at 0 euros.
