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The Provincial Council is already moving forward this Monday towards the completion of the loan, which will allow financing to be allocated to exceptional budgetary needs, derived from the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, the Vice President of the Provincial Council reported in a statement.
After the response period of the Government of the Republic, the Region advances even without the personal guarantee of the State, given that it cannot run the risk of reaching November and December and not having the money available to meet the needs of citizens and companies .
The vice president of the Regional Government, Pedro Calado, has already given internal instructions to proceed with the operation, therefore, the financial operation begins to start up, urgently, already on Monday.
Although in the last meeting held with the Ministry of Finance, on September 17, the vice president recalled the urgency of a response from the State to the financing operation, amounting to 458 million euros, and that its omission would mean an increase of costs exceeding 84 million euros, the Government of the Republic did not send any response – either positive or negative – until the end of the day.
We recall that the current situation derived from the new coronavirus has forced the Madeiran Executive to implement more than 300 urgent and extraordinary measures, essential for the Region to face the enormous pressure on the regional health service, as well as the harmful effects on the economy , due to the cessation of almost all activity in the tourism sector “, reads the statement, which adds that” despite the enormous economic and social difficulties felt, the Government’s option was not, as the situation imposed, to proceed with the direct reinforcement of transfers to their autonomous regions, in accordance with the principle of solidarity, the State having opted instead to authorize an increase in the net debt of Madeira and the Azores up to the limit of 10% of GDP 2018, to support coverage of needs derived from the effects of the pandemic ”.
In practice, Madeira and the Azores may, this year, increase their indebtedness up to the limit of 10% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, which, in the case of the Region, was 4,890 million euros.
“Ensuring the most appropriate financing conditions and with the lowest possible associated cost, it was enough that, in a simple administrative act, without treasury cost, the Republic grant the endorsement of the financing of the Region”, underlines the Vice Presidency.
Without the approval of the State, the costs of this financing operation will mean that the Region will have to pay an additional cost of around 6 million per year, which in a 14-year operation will mean more than 84 million euros for the coffers of the Region. . An amount sufficient to cover half of the financing of the new hospital.
The Regional Government is grateful, however, for all the involvement of the President of the Republic in this matter, “although this effort has not been enough for the Region to obtain the personal guarantee of the State on the loan.”
According to DIÁRIO in the September 30 edition, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa assured Miguel Albuquerque that Lisbon would guarantee the loan of 458 million, which did not materialize.
This is one of the highlighted topics in the printed edition of the DIARIO.
João Filipe Pestana, September 30, 2020 – 07:00
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