Benidorm settles almost €19.5 million in bank debt in advance

Benidorm City Council has settled nearly €19.5 million of bank debt early in 2025, to which another €5.8 million will be added by the end of the year, corresponding to the ordinary amortisation planned for this year, according to figures presented today by the Councillor for Finance, Aida García Mayor. Thus, "by the end of 2025, a total of €25.3 million will have been paid."

The councillor noted that the €19,479,916.45 repaid early "comes from the savings achieved in 2024" and has allowed "the City Council's bank debt to be considerably reduced." Thus, at the end of 2024, the City Council's bank debt stood at €57.9 million, according to the General Accounts document for the previous year, which was favorably approved yesterday by the Special Accounts Committee.

However, "after the early repayment of those almost €19.5 million and the loan repayments we had planned for this year, as of December 31st, our debt will be around €32.6 million," a figure similar to that for 2023.

The councilor emphasized that "this debt corresponds almost exclusively to bank loans that have been taken out to carry out key and strategic investments and projects for the development of Benidorm, such as the construction of the roundabout that will provide access to the industrial estate and the road that will connect this area with Avenida Comunidad Valenciana." In this regard, she lamented that "both infrastructure projects, which represent an outlay of €18 million, have to be paid for with the money of the people of Benidorm, given the refusal of the Spanish Government's Ministry of Public Works to finance access to our estate, as it has done in many other municipalities."

Among the other investments that have been or are being financed with bank loans are the expansion of Sant Jaume cemetery, the corresponding portion of the projects included in the Sustainable Tourism Destination Plan (PSTD) 'Benidorm DTI + Seguro', and the neighbourhood proposals included in successive Participatory Budgets.

García Mayor emphasised that "if Benidorm was able to request these bank loans, it was thanks to the solvency and financial management displayed by successive governments of Toni Pérez." "First," he explained, "we reduced the municipal debt to practically zero, even canceling the adjustment plan two years ahead of schedule, and then we prioritized strategic investments for the future of the city; investments that will improve the quality of life and services received by residents and tourists and that, in some cases, will even generate a return."