GOLD Report I - UCLG

EUROPE142United Cities and Local Governments10% of the real capital expenditure of localgovernments and their public institutions.Here analysis must be put in context to takeinto account the wider economic climate andthe stage of development for each situation.Macro-economic policies can have a heavyimpact on local authority investments, as isthe case for Austria and Germany. Overseveral years, capital expenditure can showgreater fluctuations than running costs. Althoughthere has been dynamic growth overthe past few years in local authority investmentacross the European Union as a whole,it has been greater in the new memberstates; this reflects the need for new infrastructurein these more recently admittedcountries. Between 2000 and 2005, the averagegrowth in local authority investmentacross the Europe of the 15 was 2.9% ayear. At the same time it was 4.9% in thenew member states, and there was negativeChart 2Local public capital expenditure as % of GDPSpainCzech RepublicIrelandFrancePolandNetherlandsPortugalItalyLuxembourgFinlandSwedenHungaryLatviaSlovak RepublicDenmarkUnited KingdomGreeceBelgiumLithuaniaEstoniaCyprusAustriaGermanySloveniaMalta0.20.50.70.80.80.80.80.90.91.11.21.21.31.61.61.71.71.922.12.12.32.32.32.50 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5Source: Dexia, 2006.