The Executive will freeze the salary of senior officials and will not apply the 2% increase decided by the State
The Canary Islands vice president, Román Rodríguez, today delivered to the acting president of Parliament, Esther González, the draft General Budget Law of the Autonomous Community for 2022, “credible and realistic” accounts that maintain the expenditure of extra hired personnel in health and education as a result of Covid-19, as explained in a press conference by the Minister of Finance, Budgets and European Affairs.
Rodríguez placed, precisely, the protection and consolidation of essential public services as one of the basic axes of the Budgets which, together with the increase in investments and support for the productive sectors, place the total non-financial expenditure at 9.098.311.647. XNUMX euros.
The vice president specified that 75 percent of the Budget is social spending and announced that the Canary Islands will consolidate the 1.700 positions of teachers hired to meet the needs during Covid during the current academic year, along with the 2.400 health workers and 700 tracers and vaccinators, although the latter will be adjusted depending on the evolution of the pandemic.
He considered that the accounts are perfectly feasible, “as were those of 2020 and will be those of 2021” and added that the total financial expenditure may grow by several hundred million euros, depending on the agreements that are reached. between the Canary Islands and the State in the sectoral conferences for the distribution of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism and in the improvement of the items of the General State Budgets.
The vice president valued the fact that the Autonomous Community can reduce the interest on its debt by up to 50 percent, without raising taxes, which translates into a proportional increase in social spending.
Rodríguez also announced that, despite the fact that the accounts include - as required - the salary increase of personnel serving the Administration, the Government will freeze the salaries of senior officials.
The accounts, in detail
The General Budgets of the Autonomous Community for 2022 amount to 9.098.311.647 euros of non-financial spending (chapters 1 to 7), 624 million euros more than this year, which represents a growth of 7,37%.
Three out of every four euros of the Budgets will be allocated to essential public services, which translates into a global amount of 6.832,3 million euros. This amount represents 7,49% more than that recorded this year.
The most important increases in absolute terms in this section correspond to the Canarian Health Service, with 160,6 million more, for a total of 3.461 million; Education, Universities, Culture and Sports, with 158 million more, for a total of 2.137 million; and Social Rights, Equality, Diversity and Youth, which increases its items by 70 million euros, to stand at 580,3 million euros.
In relative terms, the greatest growth is recorded in the department of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, with a 34,3% increase, bringing its budget to 207,8 million; Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing increased by 23,6%, to reach 129 million euros, and the Canarian Employment Service grew by 20,3 percent, for global accounts of 332,8 million euros.
Public investments - real investments and capital transfers - register a significant boost and stand at 1.382 million euros - 199,3 million more than this year - which represents an increase of 16,8%, more than double what the Budget grows globally.
Equally notable is the growth in support items for economic sectors, which reach 383,1 million euros -85 million more than in 2021-, a 28,5% increase.
The growth of these items is possible, to a large extent, due to the increase in income from ordinary and extraordinary European funds, which stands at 699 million euros, 480,3 million euros more than in 2021.
Likewise, tax revenue forecasts improve, especially from transferred taxes and fees, which will reach 460 million euros (+32,5%), and from own taxes and from the REF, which will reach 1.169 million. euros, 13,5% more than this year.
Ordinary and extraordinary European funds reach 699 million euros, which is 480,3 million more than this year.
Regarding transfers from the State, these stand at 6.060 million euros, although the resources of the regional financing system decrease by 3,9%.
Measurements for La Palma
The articulated text of the bill also incorporates a set of regulatory modifications to alleviate the tax burden on those affected by the eruption in La Palma, which include different deductions in the regional personal income tax quota and a 10% increase in the taxpayer's minimums. , ascendant and descendant for those permanently evicted.
All of these measures are added to those contained in Decree-Law 12/2021 approved on September 30 by the Government.
The Budgets also foresee the availability of 100 million euros, expandable, to cover the needs of the volcanic emergency and reconstruction tasks.