The First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, has estimated the Next Generation European funds at €96 billion and assured that the investment effort "will continue beyond the execution of the plan" with the Spain Crece fund, which only has €13.7 billion secured.
The First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, appeared this Thursday before the Joint Committee for the European Union of Congress to assess the Recovery Plan financed with the Next Generation European funds. According to the data he presented, more than €96 billion have been called, €79.854 billion have been allocated, and €72 billion have been resolved, with almost one and a half million beneficiaries, of which 68% are SMEs and microenterprises, as reported by La Razón.
Cuerpo highlighted that the plan has been completed "on time" after requesting "100%" of the funds, with a "measurable impact" on the economy: a cumulative increase in GDP of over 10% since 2019, almost double the average of the euro area states, which he attributes to a "positive differential impact".
In his speech, the minister detailed that, not counting this last disbursement, Spain has received €77.6 billion, 77% of the allocation, with a total of 338 milestones and objectives evaluated positively. The highest resolution rate is concentrated in the General State Administration (77%), followed by autonomous communities (73%) and local entities (71%). Additionally, he noted that 98% of the loans from the financial instruments have already been formalised, about €11.532 billion out of the €11.752 billion allocated.
However, Cuerpo overlooked that, since 2021 and with the ninth modification of the Recovery Plan, the Government has waived almost €62 billion from the EU, from the nearly €163 billion initially planned and to which it could have opted.
Although he did not explain what will happen when the European funds end, the minister announced that the investment effort "will continue beyond the execution of the plan" and referred to the creation of the 'Spain Crece' fund, announced by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. This fund aims to mobilise over €120 billion in investment aimed at strategic sectors, with affordable housing as a priority, although it only has €10.9 billion secured from the Recovery Plan. This contribution will be supplemented by another €2.8 billion in transfers aimed at introducing concessional conditions in the financial instruments of the ICO and improving their access conditions. In total, €13.7 billion.
According to Cuerpo, the capital reinforcement will allow the ICO to generate up to €60 billion in additional assets, a capacity that will be complemented by the mobilisation of private resources. The Government expects that for every euro contributed or mobilised by the ICO, the private sector will contribute at least another euro, which would raise the total amount mobilised by the fund above €120 billion. The Spain Crece fund will direct its initiatives to areas such as housing, for which €23 billion have been planned, transformative projects in innovative sectors, the green transition, and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Official Credit Institute (ICO) has already opened the call for €12.25 billion in loans for the construction and ownership of homes, which will include a portion of non-repayable public aid for those intended for affordable rent.
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