The Council of Ministers notes the positive results of the Treasury's prudent borrowing policy

Council of Ministers - 2023.8.22

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Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for the Economy and Digital Transformation and acting First Vice-President of the Government of Spain, Nadia Calviño, has presented the Council of Ministers with the Annual Report on the Public Treasury's Debt Policy in 2022, which will be submitted to Parliament. The report presents both the lines of action and the implementation data of the Treasury's financing programme.

Despite the adoption of new measures to mitigate the effects of inflation and the war in Ukraine, net public debt issuance in 2022 was 70.063 billion, compared to the planned 75 billion. This reduction of almost 5 billion was possible thanks to the dynamism of the Spanish economy and the prudent estimates of the financing programme.

Moreover, the work done by the Treasury in recent years and the Executive's commitment to fiscal consolidation made it possible last year to reduce the debt/GDP ratio by five points - the most in recent history - to 113.2%. Thus, the ratio was two points lower than foreseen in the Budget for that year.

The report also highlights that, in a context of normalisation of monetary policy in the eurozone, the Treasury maintained solid access to the market, with demand well in excess of the debt issued and with a high participation of non-resident investors. This market confidence was also reflected in the stability of the risk premium at levels similar to the pre-pandemic period, at around 100 basis points.

Other agreements of the Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers has approved the Statute of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence. With the creation of this Agency, Spain becomes the first European country to have such a body and anticipates the obligation for EU states to have a national authority in charge of supervising the application of Artificial Intelligence regulations.

In addition, the government has developed a mechanism to optimise the fishing possibilities of the quotas allocated to Spain. It shall apply to all national and international fishing grounds and to all fishing gears and fishing methods.

Non official translation