24/04/2013 00:00
TW
0

BY the end of 2003, resident families and business organisations in the Balearic Islands held credit with banks, savings banks and building societies to the tune of 19'236 million euros. The total is equivalent to an average regional debt figure of 22'855 euros per inhabitant, higher than the national average of 18'653 euros.
According to the Bank of Spain's latest statistics, families and companies throughout the country owed 761'927 euros by the end of last year, nearly 100'000 million euros more than in 2002 when the debt with banks, savings banks and building societies stood at 662'272 million euros. The report throws into relief a year-on-year increase of 15.04 percent in the amounts owed by families and companies, the so-called “Other Resident Sectors” in the Bank of Spain's 2003 statistics. Experts attribute the growth, amongst other factors, to continued low interest rates. Banks proved to be the organisations accumulating the highest lending figures, with 363'752 million euros by the end of 2003 (47.7 percent of the total), followed by savings banks, with 356'405 million (46.8 percent), and the building societies with 41'770 million (5.5 percent). Analysing debt according to region, Madrid is the province most in debt with nearly 177'000 “on the slate”. This is equivalent to an average of 32'629 euros being owed per inhabitant, followed by Barcelona with 122'000 million, an average of 25'338. This high level of debt reflects the fact that a large part of the most important companies in the country have operations in Madrid and Barcelona; as well as the fact that these areas are matched with high population concentrations. Regions also figuring as being heavily indebted are Alava, the Balearics, Vizcaya, Castellón and La Rioja where amounts owed climb to more than 22'000 per person. At the opposite end of the scale, the provinces of Orense, Lugo and Melilla, show respectively low debts of 7'469, 7'745 and 7'950 euros per inhabitant; followed by Ceuta and Zamora where the average debt per capita fails to reach 9'000 euros.