Valencia owes more and more to the self-employed

THE COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA has come in at third place for the unenviable title of the Spanish region which owes the most to its self-employed residents.

The amount of debt owed to the self-employed and small businesses in the region has grown by 6.1 per cent within the last three months, and now stands at €2.8 billion, according to the self-employment watchdog, ATA.

For their investigation, ATA took a sample of both public and private sector workers, and found that as well as owing a large amount of money, the region’s public administration also took an average of more than three months to make payments owed to small businesses and the self-employed: much longer than the recommended 30 day period stipulated by the EU.

ATA found that between July and September the combined debt of the different governmental bodies in the region grew by €164 million to the €2.8 billion total that it is at today.

Only Catalonia and Andalucía are ahead of the Comunidad Valenciana in the amount of money owed. Put into perspective, these three regions make up 53 per cent of all default payments in Spain.

In contrast, La Rioja, Cantabria and Navarra are the administrative regions which owe the least.