Assessment of the suitability of individual debt ratio in evaluation of local governments’ financial position

Abstract

Individual debt ratio (IDR) limits the ability to burden the budgets of local government units (LGUs) with debt. The formula for calculating IDR, applicable since 2014, raises controversy as to how much the legal debt limit corresponds to the actual creditworthiness of individual local government units. This issue is crucial for the functioning of over 2000 local governments in Poland. It deserves attention also due to the fact that the indebtedness of Polish self-governments is inter alia connected with the EU programming period and the related investment spree. The available literature does not provide analyzes covering this area and taking into account the EU programming since 2014. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to answer the question: to what extent the IDR corresponds to the real creditworthiness of a local self-government. In order to meet this objective the paper provides the analysis of Multi-annual Financial Forecasts of LGUs from the Małopolskie province (besti@ system) in 2014–2017. The analysis focuses on the critical assessment of the following variables included in the IDR formula: 1) Income from the sale of assets. 2) Exceptions introduced in order to enable local government units to absorb EU funds and comply with the legal debt limit applicable in a given year. The carried out analyzes have led to the following conclusions: 1) It is necessary to eliminate the asset sales component from the IDR formula and instead, enable LGUs to repay the debt exceeding the limit resulting from the calculated IDR to the amount of income gained from the sale of assets in the year in which such sale took place. 2) There is a discrepancy between the actual LGU’s creditworthiness and the legal debt limit based on IDR formula including statutory exemptions.