Boa tour for Sicilian finances. The deficit. The announcement gives the President of the Region, Renato Schifani, back from the Council meeting, speaking of “extraordinary result”. And for the first time, he records a positive administration surplus of 2.15 billion euros. The data emerges from the general report 2024, approved today by the executive.
The accounting document highlights a recovery of over 3 billion euros in the last year, which has allowed not only to reset the deficit of the previous year 2023, equal to just over 900 million euros, but also to carry out an surplus greater than 2 billion. “This year we will work with a more expansive financial, also because we can finally free the provisions,” continues the governor. In 2015, the year in which the Region began to apply the Legislative Decree 118, the deficit had reached 6.192 billion euros and that at the end of 2022 the deficit was still equal to 4 billion.
“We have achieved an unprecedented result for our region, a reason for pride for my government – said the president of the Sicilian region Renato Schifani – is the result of a daily work, team game, a fruitful and constant dialogue with the national government, of an action that has pushed the growth of the regional economy and a policy of concreteness and rigor shared by my assessors to the budget, which began with Marco Falcone and completed by Alessandro Dagnino”. At the meeting with the press the commissioner for the economy Alessandro Dagnino, the general accountant of the Ignazio Tazzo region and the general manager of the Department of Finance Silvio Cuffaro were present.
«Sicily – continued Schifani – now has the accounts in order. At the time of our settlement, the Region had a deficit of 4 billion, today we record an surplus of over two billion. This government, with its choices, has shown that she knows how to look not only at today, facing emergencies and obtaining an increase in higher GDP than the national one, which has yielded an increase in tax revenue, but has its gaze on the future, creating the premises for a stable development that also has repercussions on the occupation for our young people and on the quality of life of the Sicilians. For this I want to be clear: they are resources that we will priority to investments priority ».
Report 2024 adapts to the recommendations and findings formulated by the Court of Auditors on the occasion of the judgments of equal years of the past years. Among the main items that contributed to the administration surplus, the strengthening of the revenue increase trend. Thanks to the growth of the Sicilian economy, the Region collected about 2.6 billion in 2024, beyond estimates. In particular, a greater revenue of 1.125 billion of Irpef, 466 million IRES (income tax tax), 387 of VAT, 116 of car stamp and 73 of the register tax was recorded.
“With the approval of the report 2024 – says the commissioner of the economy Alessandro Dagnino – the Region marks a historical step: from deficit to surplus. We have scored an extraordinary renovation objective thanks to the tax dividend and economic and budgetary policies inspired by the principles of rigor and development. With the approval of the 2024 report, a new season opens for the accounts of the Region, which will allow to further push on the development, increasing the production expenditure for investments. The extraordinary data recorded today allows us to aim decisively to the resolution of the dispute with the Court of Auditors on the reports of previous years, with the aim of freeing further resources for future exercises. In addition, we will be able to immediately count on significantly higher financial spaces, to be used already in the next stability law also through the taxation of advantage recently obtained with the approval of the new rules for implementing the regional statute “.
In short, the finances go to swollen sails, like the relationships in the majority, the president is certainly said: a “cohesive” alliance and that “works well, confronting the national government daily, in front of which I never introduced myself with the hat in hand, but to discuss and to share reforms”.
Fdi and Lega: “The surplus to the historical region and virtuous path”
“The reset of the deficit of the Sicilian region together with the administration surplus greater than 2 billion is the historic crowning of a virtuous path of remediation of the accounts and effective economic policies. Merit of the excellent work done by the Schifani government in continuity with the previous one chaired by Nello Musumeci and in perfect synergy with the Meloni government who is reserving unprecedented attention to Sicily. We are proud of this great result that rewards the center -right coalition and sees Brothers of Italy in the front row “says Luca Sbardella, Fdi regional commissioner in Sicily. And the group leader of the League at the Ars, Salvo Geraci, adds: “The season of Austerity ends for the Sicily region. The work of this regional government gives an extraordinary result and we share the auspices of the President of the Region Renato Schifani on an expansive 2026 financial, with the aim of increasing and supporting the economic growth of Sicily, already found by the data on GDP and with the rating of international evaluation agencies. The surplus equal to 2.15 billion puts us back on the track to make Sicily a more competitive region ».