The Algarve's rural municipality of Alcoutim is back in the news, this time the council has excelled itself by being the quickest payer in the Algarve, in fact it is the quickest payer in Portugal with bills taking matter of hours to be settled in full.
The Financial Yearbook of Portuguese Municipalities 2016, just published in July 2017, notes that "the municipality of Alcoutim continues to pay its suppliers almost at once."
“In fact, Alcoutim municipality takes an average of one day to pay suppliers - almost on demand - and there has been an increase in the number of municipalities with an average payment period of less than 90 days, up from 240 municipalities in 2015, to 257 municipalities in 2016."
The report’s conclusions also noted “a gradual increase" in the property transaction tax (IMT) due to the house market stirring back into life last year.
The Financial Yearbook placed "Alcoutim at the top of the municipalities with better performance in terms of the average term of payment to suppliers. With regard to IMT, it has been verified that in the last three years there has been a gradual increase in property investment in the municipality with the value of investments rising by around 10% in 2016."
