Municipalities earn €2.2bn more in 2020

The combined annual contribution margin of municipalities for 2020 grew by EUR 2.2 billion from that in the previous year, according to the financial statement estimates reported by municipalities in Mainland Finland.

The explanatory factors were the strong growth in central government transfers to local government mainly due to coronavirus and tax revenue.

The result also grew strongly, in total to EUR 1.7 billion, said the Statistics Finland in a press release on Wednesday.

These data were collected from all 294 municipalities and 130 joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland.

According to the financial statement estimates for 2020, the external operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland grew by 1.7 per cent compared to the previous years’ financial statements.

The operating revenue was estimated to decrease by 3.8 per cent. Last year, the operating expenses of municipalities totalled EUR 38.5 billion and operating revenue EUR 6.9 billion. The operating margin weakened by 3.1 per cent to minus (-) 31.3 billion euro.

According to their own estimates, municipalities received a total of EUR 11.0 billion in central government transfers in 2020, which is EUR 2.4 billion or 27.2 per cent more than that in the year before.

Tax revenue grew by EUR 0.9 billion or by 4.0 per cent to EUR 23.8 billion. Tax funding formed of tax revenue and central government transfers to local government was EUR 6,336 per capita.

The annual contribution margin more than doubled from the previous year to EUR 4.0 billion.

Two municipalities in Mainland Finland had a negative annual contribution margin. In the previous year’s actual financial statements, 65 municipalities had a negative annual contribution margin.

The combined result of municipalities grew from EUR minus (-) 0.2 billion to EUR 1.7 billion.

According to the financial statement estimates, the loan stock of municipalities in Mainland Finland stood at EUR 19.1 billion at the end of 2020. The growth from the previous year’s actual financial statements amounted to 3.8 per cent. The loan stock per capita was EUR 3,478.

The combined investment expenditure of municipalities grew from the previous year by 4.6 per cent to EUR 4.2 billion.

The financial statement estimates of joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland for 2020 included external operating expenses to the tune of EUR 16.2 billion.

The operating expenses increased by 1.9 per cent from the year before. The operating margin was EUR 0.7 billion. The result for the financial period weakened slightly, being EUR minus (-) 0.1 billion.

The investment expenses of joint municipal authorities increased by 6.3 per cent to EUR 1.4 billion. At the end of the year, the combined loan stock stood at EUR 5.5 billion, showing a 17.5 per cent year-on-year growth.