Court Auditors: Madeira debt 5.9 billion in 2010

The Court Auditor's Report for the year 2010 calculates that the Madeira debt reached 5.887 billion Euro in 2010.

The Publico writes that by mid 2010 the debt had already reached 6.328 billion and estimates the regional debt to now have exceeded 8 billion Euro.

At the end of 2010 the region's direct debt was 963,3 million. The administrative debt reached1.9 billion, a steep rise in comparison to the previos year, owing to the discovery of information omitted the previous years. The public companies debt reached 3 billion and the financial debt of the companiesreached 1.738 billion. Unpaid bills (encargos assumidos e não pagos) was estimated at 1.455 billion Euros.

The auditor's report also reviewed the 2008 and 2009 to include all the hidden debt that had gone unreported in the previous years.

The Court Auditors concluded that the omission of debts resulted from the Regional Directorate of Budget and Accounts not having done their duty in checking the budget and supervising the accounts.