Municipalities in Spain have been submitting lists of outstanding invoices to the Ministry of Finance in preparation for the recovery plan being implemented by the Government.
The next stage will be for the municipalities to prepare a feasibility study to show how they are going to settle their debts. The Government plans to open lines of credit up to €35 billion for the recovery plan and it is estimated that this exercise will save between 75,000 and 100,000 jobs.
The municipalities in Spain owe around €17 billion to service providers and the figure in Andalucia is around 2.5 billion.
According to preliminary figures, Jerez owes in the region of €950 million, with €70 million owed to URBASER and a further €10 million to LIMASA, municipal companies in charge of maintenance and cleaning services.
Jaén owes around €300 million to suppliers, Huelva owes around €150 million, Granada €107 million, Sevilla €60 million and Córdoba around €32 million. Málaga will not have to resort to the recovery plan to pay its debts.
Madrid has the highest municipal debt in Spain at around €1 billion.
Debts will be paid in order of seniority, taking into account those companies who have taken court action. Debts to small and medium-sized businesses will also be covered.
It is expected that payment to suppliers could begin in May.
Municipalities have long claimed that outsourcing certain public services such as cleaning, water, transport etc is a cheaper option for them, and of course it is when they then stop paying those service providers.