Local communities reduced debt in 2016
The municipalities' debt amounted to EUR 710.5m and the debt of legal entities of the public sector at the municipal level to EUR 133.4m.
In its summary of the report, the Finance Ministry noted that only 16 municipalities had no debt at the end of last year, which compares to 18 the year before.
The decrease in the overall debt came as a result of fewer public calls for EU subsidised investments as well as repayment of debt by some municipalities and public utilities.
The overall debt per capita exceeded EUR 600 in 26 municipalities with five of them topping EUR 1,000. The biggest per-capita debt was recorded by Gornji Petrovci (SE) at EUR 1,813.
The Finance Ministry endorsed requests for new borrowing for 47 municipalities, which took out a total of EUR 53.9m in fresh loans. Most went for new investment and 13 municipalities borrowed to manage their debts.
With the approval of the Economy Ministry, 122 municipalities borrowed EUR 19m from the state budget in 2016.
The Finance Ministry is not concerned about the overall debt of local communities because they implement investments that through business activity and creation of jobs generate GDP.