Puerto Real cuts 11.6 million in debt with the surplus

The Ayuntamiento de Puerto Real will allocate 11,665,062.66 euros to prepay part of the loan it has had with the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) since 2019. The operation was approved by the extraordinary Plenary Session held on Tuesday, November 10, and comes from the treasury surplus for general expenses, which after the settlement of the 2025 budget reaches 38.64 million euros. The loan with the ICO still has 48.84 million euros of principal outstanding. With this early payment, the Ayuntamiento calculates that it will save 277,000 euros in interest and will stop paying 729,066 euros per year in debt amortization between 2027 and 2042. Added to last year's extraordinary amortization, according to the government team, more than two million euros per year will have been freed up that can go to public services instead of loan payments.

The local government places the measure within a financial clean-up strategy. According to its data, municipal debt will go from 69.07 million euros in 2023 to 37.18 million projected for the end of 2026, 46.2% less. If EPSUVI's accounts are added, the consolidated debt of the municipal public sector would have fallen from 96.8 million in 2022 to 37.75 million in 2026, more than 61%. The deputy mayor for Finance, José Alfaro, has argued that the measure seeks to reduce debt and not postpone payments: «No queremos dar una patada hacia adelante a la deuda ni ampliar el plan de ajuste durante más años». The government team has again criticized the limitations of the Ley de Estabilidad Presupuestaria, which in its view prevents surpluses from being devoted to investments and public services, and calls for more autonomy for town councils. The budget modification will be on public display for fifteen days before its final approval, unless objections are filed. The reports from Intervención and Tesorería indicate that there is enough liquidity to face the operation.