Public debt grows at a rate of 206 million per day and closes 2022 with a record of 1,502 trillion

Public debt grows at a rate of 206 million per day and closes 2022 with a record of 1,502 trillion

The definitive data for the closing of the year 2022 of the public administration debt published today by the Bank of Spain gives to satisfy optimists and pessimists. Those who want to see the glass half full will say that the 1,502 trillion euros in which it closed represent 113.2% of GDPwhich means 5.1 points less than at the end of 2021 (118.3%) and 2 points below the Government forecast (115.2%) in accordance with what is established by the Executive in the Budget Plan and approaching the fulfillment of the objective by the end of 2023. A percentage that, although it is far from the 120.4% of maximums that it marked in 2020, the toughest year of the coronavirus pandemic , is still far from the goal of 60% of GDP set by European rules. The scenario proposed by the 2022-2025 Stability Program shows a progressive decline in the deficit over the four years until the debt/GDP ratio stands at 109.7% in 2025.

But those who want to see it half empty will argue that in nominal terms the public debt continued to rise, growing an average of 206 million euros per dayuntil scoring a record that is 5.3% above the hitherto all-time high at the close of 2021 (1,427,238 million), although below the data for the third quarter of 2022 (1,503,760 million).

In quarter-on-quarter comparison, the debt registered a slight decrease in the final stretch of the year and fell from the record of 1,503 trillion reached in the third quarter of 2022 to 1,502 trillion with which the year ended. The debt ratio also fell from 115.6%

Administrations

As usual, at the end of 2022 most of the debt was concentrated in the Central administrationwhich accumulated a liability of 1,358,814 million euros, 6.1% more, a figure that is equivalent to 102.4% of GDP, almost four points less than a year before. Also the autonomous communities increased their indebtedness in 2022, reaching 316,937 million, 1.4% more, although the ratio dropped to 23.8% of GDP, 2.1 points less. At the end of 2022, the most indebted autonomous communities with respect to their GDP were Comunidad Valenciana (44.4%), Castilla-La Mancha (33.4%), Cataluña (33.4%) and Murcia (32.2% ), while the lowest ratios were those of Madrid (13.5%), the Basque Country (13.7%), the Canary Islands (13.9%) and Navarra (14.1%).

The Social Security was the subsector that increased its debt the most last year, 9.3%, up to 106,178 millionwith a GDP ratio of 8%, one tenth less than a year earlier.

As regards the local entitiesclosed 2022 with a debt of 23,019 million, 4.3% more, which is equivalent to 1.7% of GDP, one tenth less. The municipalities of municipalities with more than 300,000 inhabitants with the largest debts were Madrid (1,738 million, after reducing it by 3.5%) and Barcelona (1,117 million, after shooting it up 36.5%).

By instrument, at the end of 2022 most of the public debt was concentrated in securities, especially long-term (1.25 trillion), although also short-term (65,599 million), while the rest was distributed in loans (182,325 million) and cash and deposits (5,151 million).