The Parliament of the Canary Islands approved this Tuesday the Draft General Budget Law of the Autonomous Community for 2022, the third accounts that the parties signing the progress pact have put forward and that deepen the strengthening of social rights and essential services in the Archipelago, in addition to promoting economic promotion policies and public investment.
The Canarian Vice President and Minister of Finance, Budgets and European Affairs, Román Rodríguez, today thanked the Chamber for the approval of a Budget aimed at the economic recovery of the Archipelago in a scenario of uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic and associated factors such as inflation or the increase in the price of merchandise traffic, in addition to the devastating effects of the eruption of La Palma still to be definitively evaluated.
Rodríguez stressed the constructive and dialoguing nature of the four groups that support the Government (PSOE, NC, Sí Podemos and ASG) evidenced by the fact that they have accepted no less than 66 amendments from the opposition groups, considering that they improved the legislative project submitted by the Executive to Parliament.
The General Budgets of the Autonomous Community for 2022 amount to 9,098,311,647 euros of non-financial expenditure (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 is 7.49% more than that allocated 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 largest 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 Fisheries increases by 23.6%, to stand at 129 million euros, and the Canarian Employment Service grows 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 noteworthy is the growth of support items for economic sectors, which reach 383.1 million euros -85 million more than in 2021-, an increase of 28.5%.
In addition, the Budgets grow without touching taxes and reducing the payment of interest on debt.
Similarly, 100 million euros are reserved to address the volcanic emergency and the recovery tasks of La Palma.
