Spain’s recent performance implementing the recovery funds and outlook for 2022
Fecha: noviembre 2021
Ana María Domínguez, César Cantalapiedra
Nextgen EU
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 10 N.º 6 (November 2021)
Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (the Plan), approved by the European Commission in June, will mobilise up to 140 billion euros of funds. Spain is currently in the process of implementing the first tranche, in the amount of 69.53 billion - transfers from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Although execution of the investments contemplated under the Plan will last until 2026, 70% of the RRF funds have to be committed in 2021–2023. That means there is little more than two years left for highly ambitious commitments to materialise. Based on the budget breakdown contemplated in the Plan for 2021 and the information gleaned from the tenders published up until October (inclusive), a significant volume of funds still needs to be executed before the end of the year. Furthermore, execution levels across the various Plan drivers and components are proving uneven. Nevertheless, any RRF funds that are not get executed in 2021 will be rolled into next year’s budget. The general state budget for 2022 contemplates 26.9 billion euros of investments under the Plan. That sum implies stepping up the pace of investments and reforms by over 10% by comparison with 2021.