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Madrid.- The Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, explained at the press conference after the Council of Ministers that of the 83.2 billion euros allocated to Spain in the form of loans, only 22.8 billion are going to be requested, given that financing is being obtained in the markets at lower costs than those established for European loans.
On this matter, he wanted to clarify that the loans from the recovery plan were conceived “as a safety net to be able to give continuity to investments”, but now they will remain available “but with a safety net that will be national and not European”, which entails a lower administrative burden and greater flexibility.
With regard to non-repayable transfers, 55 billion out of the total of 79.8 billion euros corresponding to our country have been executed so far, 70%, so 24.8 billion remain pending, Cuerpo detailed.
The objective is to execute 100% of that money, so the new addendum approved this Tuesday entails a reduction of the administrative burden and facilitates the verification of milestones, in addition to reinforcing the strategic priorities entailed by the recovery plan with new investments while maintaining the level of ambition.
Cuerpo stressed that the addendum also includes a capital injection of 13 billion euros into the Official Credit Institute (ICO), which consolidates its capacity to respond to the possible financing needs of the economy beyond 2026.
This is an agenda that “learns from the experience acquired” and “responds to the request for simplification by the European Commission”, said the minister, who insisted that it also takes advantage of “the good performance of the Spanish economy to optimize available resources, minimize the impact in terms of debt and continue boosting the economy”.
Asked about the pending reforms included in the plan, Cuerpo reported that some remain as they were, while others, which are important for our economy, are being modified and adapted to reality, and he gave as an example the milestone related to the land law.
A final category, he said, are “peripheral or additional reforms, minor reforms”, although he wanted to make it clear that “they will continue their legislative course at the national level” and an example is “the law on the authority for the defense of financial customers”. (December 9)
Spain will execute 100% of transfers but only 27.4% of loans from the recovery plan
The Government approved this Tuesday a new addendum to the recovery plan, whose objective is to simplify milestones and streamline procedures to ensure that one hundred percent of the pending transfers (24.8 billion) are executed, in addition to renouncing 72.6% of the loans allocated to Spain.
