According to a report by ECO, the list of 74 municipalities that met the established criteria is led by Sintra, Santa Maria da Feira and Marinha Grande.

The study carried out every year by the Order of Accountants and the Polytechnic Institute of Cavado e Ave, reveals that Sintra has risen from the second position it occupied in 2020 to the top of the table, switching positions with Santa Maria de Feira. Marinha Grande rose from fourth to third place.

“Only 74 municipalities can be considered as having a satisfactory level of effectiveness and financial efficiency, based on the indicators selected for this Yearbook, when they obtain a classification greater than or equal to 50% of the total score”, explains the coordinator of the study Maria José Fernandes. But, in an assessment extended to the 100 municipalities with the best classification, “14 are large, 34 are medium and 52 are small”, the yearbook states.

However, the authors of the study Maria José da Silva Fernandes, Pedro Jorge Sobral Camões and Susana Jorge note that the municipalities that had a total debt index greater than 150% were excluded from the global ranking, that is, total debt greater than 1, 5 times the average net current revenue collected in the three previous years.

It should be noted that, in 2020, there were 71 municipalities with a satisfactory level of effectiveness and financial efficiency.

In an analysis of the distribution by district of the 100 municipalities with the best classification, it is possible to see that 11 are in Aveiro, nine in Leiria and eight in Lisbon and another eight in Faro, Viseu and the Azores.