The Vice-President stated in Horta that the Azores have registered "the best budget result compared to the best national result in 42 years of Democracy." He noted that the 44 percentage of public debt weight in the Azores is less than one-third of that registered in the country and in Madeira. It is even less than half of the figure registered in the entire Community area.
 
"The 2016 account, whose final deficit level was confirmed by the Court of Auditors (TdC) and the National Statistics Institute (INE), represents 1.5 per cent of the deficit on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," said Sérgio Ávila at the Legislative Assembly.
 
"This is the reality of the facts," said the government official. According to him, "the public accounts and the Regional Account that were actually assessed and confirmed by the Court of Auditors" regarding 2016 evidence that, "in terms of budget balance, this is the best that the best of the national average in 42 years of Democracy."
 
As for public debt and considering all public companies within the budget perimeter, Sérgio Ávila pointed out that it represents 44 percent of the GDP.
 
"Our public debt compared to our level of production is less than a third of that registered in the country and less than a third compared to Madeira." The figure is quite below the European target of 60 percent by 2030, stressed Sérgio Ávila.
 
Currently, the Vice President stressed that "the debt of all European Union countries represents 90 percent of GDP." Hence, the weight of public debt in the Azores, in comparative terms, is "less than half."
 
"At this moment, we have a financial burden that represents 44 percent of a year of production and this is relevant in terms of responsibility for future generations," the government official said, noting that this weight in Madeira represents 111 percent of the GDP and 133 in Mainland Portugal.
 
"Thus, in terms of responsibilities for future generations, our young people have far less future costs than young people in EU countries as a whole, as do young people in Mainland Portugal and those living in Madeira," said the government official.
 
For the Vice-President, "this is the legacy for the future," of which the Government of the Azores is very proud. In this context, he also highlighted "the level of economic development and growth and the reduction of unemployment" registered in the Region.
 
Sérgio Ávila also emphasised the sustainability of debt service in achieving these goals and the importance of the social mission for sectors such as agriculture and fisheries that is being pursued by public companies on all islands.
 
The government official also highlighted the fact that, this year, there was not any kind of difficulty in the access to funding and interest rates were lower.
 
The Vice-President of the Government also noted that the recommendations of the report issued by the Court of Auditors on public accounts and the Public Business Sector mainly refer to accounting procedures and use classification criteria. The Regional Government had already delivered the document to the Parliament and publicly disclosed it in the first half of 2017.
 
In this context, Sérgio Ávila pointed out the standardisation of accounting systems used by the administration and public companies, being a matter of concern nationwide. According to him, they do not allow the systems to communicate using computers, which would provide information more quickly and in a discriminatory manner.
 
Furthermore, Sérgio Ávila announced that, starting on January 1, the implementation of the Accounting Standardisation System of the Public Administration (SNC-AP) will end the four different systems that currently operating in Mainland Portugal and in the autonomous regions.
 
The Vice-President revealed that the SNC-AP system will allow the integration and reconciliation of balances and information requested by the Court of Auditors, rejecting any "attempt to manipulate" the recommendations issued.