Andalucía's regional budget for next year will be largest in history with almost 49 billion euros

Junta president Juanma Moreno said that 60% will be allocated to health, education and social care, and highlighted the 40.5% increase since he came to power in 2019

José Luis Piedra

Seville

Tuesday, 29 October 2024, 20:43

Andalucía's budget for next year, expected to be rubber-stamped at this week's meeting of the regional government, will be the largest ever since it became an autonomous region. It will stand at nearly 48.84 billion euros, the Junta's PP president Juanma Moreno announced. The budget has increased by 4.4% from that of 2024 and by 40.5% in total since 2018, the last budget for when the socialist party PSOE-A governed the Junta.

Moreno announced on social media that "Andalucía once again maintains stability in order to continue moving forward, and from the Junta we will make a great effort in public health, education and employment." In addition, he siad was in favour of enriching the accounts and stressed his openness to contributions from the rest of the parties in the parliamentary process. Sixty percent of the budget pot is earmarked for social policies and his forecasts points to economic growth of 2.4% over the next year.

The spokesperson for the regional government and Minister of Economy, Finance and European Funds, Carolina España, emphasised that Andalucía will have "a good budget" that will dedicate its main items to health, education and social care. Carolina España also singled out that the budget is aimed at employment and housing, as well as underlining the more than six billion euros to support the productive fabric of the region to boost business. The head of the department in charge of this budget is also relying on the proposals being improved further with the participation of the opposition: "all parties with political representation will be able to make their contributions through amendments." To keep her word, the minister recently met with the leaders of the political groups represented in the regional parliament to inform them of the priorities within this draft budget bill, which was due to be approved by the regional cabinet on Tuesday this week.

In her opinion, "the objective is that before the end of the year the budgets can be approved so that the Andalusian government has a roadmap that will undoubtedly mark the policies for the year 2025 in Andalucía." She also gave assurances that "we are doing our best for the people and we will approve the budget in a timely manner." In her opinion, "this is very important because we are offering stability and security, which is what investment requires and what a public administration has to provide."

Carolina España also stated that "they will be prudent accounts in terms of spending, as they have been drawn up under the hypothesis of a 3.2% spending rule, which was communicated at the last committee meeting on fiscal and financial policy." She also said that they will be "realistic budgets, focused on responding to the problems of the Andalusian people and that they will make the most efficient use of the resources available to Andalucía." The minister also emphasised that the Junta is demonstrating that it is a "responsible government and we are demonstrating this once again with this new budget."

For his part, the secretary general of the PSOE-A party in opposition, Juan Espadas, highlighted the important contribution of the Spanish government's transfer of central funds to Andalucía, thereby helping the region to set such a record-breaking budget.

For this reason, Espadas asked Moreno "to make one more effort to acknowledge that, thanks to the [national] government of Pedro Sánchez, he can show off that he has the best budget, as without that help there is no way this could have happened." Espadas further urged Moreno: "Don't delude yourself, because not even half of the investments that you approve are executed."

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