Local governments were cleaned up more than the regional or national governments. At the peak of the crisis in 2010, they had a 1.4 billion euro deficit, but posted a 7.2 billion euro surplus in 2013.
Still, more than 10% of the local governments in Murcia, Madrid and Andalusia still run deficits. Many of them had major problems before the crisis. Several governments were plagued with Jesús Gil's legacy, and subsequent local leaders were unable to heal their councils since his party's illegal dealings. Besides these exceptions, the real debt problem in Spain is at the regional government level, and they are likely to persist given we are entering an election period.
