Govt. cuts save 360 million euros

The “cuts” referred to in Aguiló's plan have meant a reduction in the number of ministries and in the make-up of those left to govern. He and his team have also decided not to allow any more contracts for temporary staff or to pay overtime to already-existing full-time employees, apart from in very exceptional circumstances.

Aguiló said yesterday that far from having made all the trimming that might be necessary, the Partido Popular was going to continue in its “valiant” campaign to restore growth to the regional economy and to control what has become the sixth highest regional public deficit in the country.

Confidence
The Minister said that already he was confident that the Balearics would end this year with a deficit within the 1.3 percent of gross product permitted by Central Government.

Political commentators saw Aguiló's statement yesterday as a brave one, particularly in view of the fact that just a few days ago, the Bank of Spain had reported that in the second quarter of this year, the Balearics had reached a record debt level of 4'561 million euro, the highest ever recorded for the region. The figure was 19.3 percent more than during the same period in 2010, an additional 739 million.

With President José Ramón Bauzá at the helm, furthered Aguiló, the Balearic government is now taking off on a very different tack of financial management. Aguiló claimed that the priority which is to be given to private enterprise will be the key to the Balearics emerging from the economic crisis before other regions of the country. “It may be that international markets won't be helping very much at the moment,” said Aguiló, “but we believe that there is sufficient momentum in the Balearics to see our way clear from the crisis.” The Minister said that it wants to take out any cumbersome bureaucracy from its future projects and whilst it will be giving full support to those public projects which are already up and running, agreements with private enterprise are to be fast tracked.

The Minister made it clear that there will be nothing “insular” about future government policy so far as economic recovery is concerned.
He said that strategies aimed at economic growth would include the encouragement of overseas investment in the Balearic Islands. This meant, he clarified, that apart from regional private enterprise, businesses from the mainland, Europe and elsewhere are welcome to present their credentials. The government is reportedly in the process of establishing new legislation which will protect the interests of private investors in the region. “The Balearics needs to move up a gear,” he said.