The central government invests more than twice as much per Madrilenian than per Catalan.

BarcelonaThe Spanish government has invested, on average, twice as much money per Madrilenian as per Catalan since Pedro Sánchez took office. The State has maintained the trend already experienced by the PP executives of allocating more money than planned in the budget to the Spanish capital and, conversely, leaving a large part of the investment allocation for Catalonia unfulfilled, resulting in a notable disparity in the funds that the socialist executive has allocated to both territories since mid-2018.

Specifically, since the start of Sánchez's presidency, the Spanish government has invested €5.386 billion in Catalonia. In the Community of Madrid (CAM), on the other hand, investment in the autonomous community of Madrid since the second half of 2018 has been €9.713 billion, 80% more (or €4.327 billion) than in Catalonia, according to the report. Territorial distribution of state public sector investment, which is prepared semiannually by the General Intervention of the State Administration (IGAE), which is dependent on the Ministry of Finance.

These figures correspond to the execution of investment, that is, the data on what the government spends, not what is projected on paper in the general state budget. In fact, in this sense, the data are paradoxical: although, in reality, it invests 80% more in Madrid than in Catalonia, in the state accounts the figures are reversed, and the Sánchez administration has always planned for greater investment in Catalonia.

Sánchez was able to approve budgets for 2021, 2022, and 2023. In the first year, the budgeted investment in Catalonia was €2.068 billion, compared to €1.134 billion in Madrid. In the following two years, the situation was similar: in Catalonia, €2.207 billion and €2.276 billion, respectively, compared to €1.055 billion and €1.207 billion in the Spanish capital. These figures, therefore, double the budgeted investment in the Principality compared to the Community of Madrid.

These figures are some of those used by the Spanish government to justify its investment commitment to Catalonia, both to voters and to its parliamentary partners (ERC and, to a lesser extent, Junts) and to civil society organizations—especially employers' and economic entities—that have been denouncing the discriminatory treatment Catalonia receives in the field of investment for years.

Execution by land in Catalonia

Now, the reality—the invested money that reaches the real economy—is calculated with the execution (also called liquidation) of the budget. Despite having approximately twice as much money allocated to the budget, state investment in Catalonia has ended up being lower than that of Madrid in every year since Sánchez has held the presidency. This trend is not new, but inherited from the previous government, that of Mariano Rajoy, who also tended to systematically invest more money in the CAM.

Thus, not counting 2018 (Sánchez became president in June of that year) or 2024 (data is only available for the first half of the year), in the remaining years with Sánchez at the helm, the government has allocated between 742 million euros, and each 1,000 to 1,000 million euros, ranging from 1,107 million to 2,086 million. Thus, despite budgeting almost twice as much for Catalonia as for Madrid, in the end, the year with the lowest investment in the Spanish capital ended up surpassing the best in the Principality.

These figures, however, are aggravated if one takes into account that the difference between the two territories in terms of economic activity is very small: Catalonia represents, roughly, 19% of the Spanish economy, and Madrid, around 19.5%. And in terms of population, the figure is even worse for Catalan interests, since Madrid has one million fewer inhabitants.

In per capita terms, in fact, the State's investment in the Autonomous Community of Madrid has averaged double that of Catalonia since the PSOE came to power. Between July 1, 2018, and July 31, 2024 (the latest year for which figures are available), the government invested €115 per inhabitant annually in Catalonia compared to €239 in Madrid, more than double the amount.

More money than with the PP

The investment treatment received by Catalonia under the Sánchez government is better than that received by the previous administration, that of Mariano Rajoy. That is, in Catalonia An average of 160 million more investment arrives state each year under the Socialist leader than under the former PP president, but the default rate is very high: Sánchez has never managed to liquidate even half of what he had planned to invest in the Principality. In Madrid, on the other hand, execution has always exceeded 100% (something that also occurred with PP executives). In other words, the State invests, year after year, even more money than the budget indicates.