Page 74 - economic report 2021

The expenditure of the Comú central and Comú governments) increased to
governments saw double-digit growth to 13%, a percentage that comes close to their
pract cally recover pre-pandemic levels. proportion of revenue. However, if we only
consider non-financial expenditure, the Comú
percentage of total public administration costs
rises to 22.5%, which, however, remains lower than their percentage of non-financial revenue.

The analysis by chapters shows that the growth in Comú expenditure was concentrated only
in operating costs and real investment. Specifically, the chapter of personnel costs, the most
important of all with 37% of the total, increased 4.6%, and consumption of goods and services, the
second most important, rose 19.6%. In contrast, current transfers saw a decline of 12.7%, after
being the chapter that increased most in 2020 due to the support measures through transfers to
mitigate the effects of the health crisis. Equally, financial expenditure also shrank (-9%), for the
tenth consecutive year, favoured by the context of still low interest rates. As a result, current
expenditure as a whole rose 8.4%. Growth in capital expenditure was much higher (39.7%) due to
the recovery in real investment (45.5%), while capital transfers shrank 87% after the exceptional
increase in 2020 from the impact of the measures to tackle the effects of the pandemic.

To complete the analysis of Comú finances, note Growth in Comú expenditure
that the trend in expenditure rose for all Comú was concentrated in operating
governments except Ordino, where expenditure
fell 6.7%. The most notable increase was for costs and real investment.
Andorra la Vella (34.9%), followed by Canillo
(18.7%), and these were the only two Comú governments to see a budget deficit in 2021. So,
Andorra la Vella is still in first place in the Comú ranks by volume of expenditure, at 28.9%, while
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Ordino regained the position of Comú with the lowest absolute level of expenditure (7.5% of the
total), which it had held between 2016-2019 and lost momentarily to Sant Julià de Lòria in 2020.

Table 8.2

COMÚ BUDGET SETTLEMENTS (thousands of euros)
REVENUE EXPENDITURE
2021 % var. 21/20 % total 2021 2021 % var. 21/20 % total 2021
Canillo 12,995 -22.7 7.8 16,603 18.7 10.3
The Andorran economy: general developments | VIII. The public sector
Encamp 33,705 28.8 20.3 30,266 3.1 18.7
Ordino 12,533 1.6 7.6 12,097 -6.7 7.5
La Massana 18,841 7.7 11.4 17,714 15.4 10.9
Andorra la Vella 46,389 0.2 28.0 46,742 34.9 28.9
Sant Julià de Lòria 14,529 2.0 8.8 13,621 5.7 8.4
Escaldes-Engordany 26,868 -10.9 16.2 24,925 17.7 15.4
Total 165,860 1.4 100.0 161,969 15.4 100.0

Source: Comú governments / Department of Stat st cs.

3. The Andorran Social Security System (CASS)

The settled budget of the CASS in 2021, including financial assets and liabilities, reached a total
volume of revenue of €335.7 million, slightly lower than the €335.8 million of settled expenditure.
So, the CASS obtained a small deficit of just over €100,000. Now, if only non-financial revenue