Faced with the announcement that it intends to execute 2021 public works funds in just 4 months, experts emphasize the mediocre execution capacity.
It is illegal for the government to plan to spend the 2021 public works budget in 4 months, opposition MPs say. This is because the plan is built on the basis of the revenue projection that the country will have, in addition to whether there are movements in the Budget Act it must be authorized by the Legislative Assembly.
ARENA MP René Portillo Quadra explains that President Nayib Bukele would make it unconstitutional by wanting to spend the one-year budget in the months of January, February, March and April, and in May, at the beginning. a new Legislative Assembly, to pretend to acquire another budget, since there cannot be two in a same fiscal year.
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He adds that President Bukele’s statements are irresponsible because the decrees are still in the final draft, so they have not reached the Presidential House and cannot be claiming that they will be vetoed or sanctioned.
“It seems irresponsible to me to say that it will be spent in four months when the budget depends on state revenue, if there is not enough revenue because the country’s economy is depressed. There is also a legal problem. and constitutionally, you can’t spend the 12-month budget in four months because the money is projected to pay salaries, debts, the whole operation of the state, ”says Portillo Quadra.
However, yesterday Bukele clarified that it is about the budget for investment in public works and not about salaries, as hinted at by the Minister of Public Works, Romeu Herrera, in a tweet that he later deleted.
Tatiana Marroquín, an expert economist, believes that it is illegal for the president to want to spend a year’s money in 4 months because the budget is divided into projects and items, as well as only the Legislative Assembly, according to the Constitution, has the power to reform the Budget Law.
“To be able to spend the budget in four months you should not spend it according to what the Budget Law says. In order to be able to spend it you have to move what will be spent in the last months at the beginning of the year, and any budget move must go through the Assembly, ”he explains.
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He adds that it is reckless and arbitrary, as well as impossible from a financial point of view, to want to make an expense of this magnitude because the budget is a projection of how the funds that are planned to have of revenue collection will be spent. ‘taxes, and if they do not meet the collection goals they will not be able to spend either.
According to Marroquín, the government has the same budget for public works for 2021 as this year, which is about $ 1.2 billion, and this year they failed to spend what they had planned for investment in works.
“The capacity the government has had to execute public works is soon mediocre, it is very low, they have not been able to execute the money they have had, much less they will be able to do it so quickly in four months,” he said.
He also warned that “if they managed to find the money it would still be illegal and arbitrary, it is also not viable, because you see the way the investment projects have been executed, they have not been efficient in this, they have not succeeded not even 70% of the past budget investment, much less $ 1.2 billion as in 2021. “
FMLN MP Shafick Handal notes that President Bukele was “corrected the page” in the budget by removing unnecessary expenses such as $ 57 million that were earmarked for consulting, details are unknown.
In addition, the deputies withdrew excess funds for destinations that were not explained in the project, and now the Salvadoran president has announced that they will be investments in works, where for health and education were not withdrawn, in addition to ‘add a 5% increase to public employees earning up to $ 1,000 and not having a roster.
Handal also explains that raising the minimum pension was a proposal by the FMLN, and that President Bukele has now put it as his conquest.
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“He is an irresponsible person who does not run the country but believes that it is his personal estate and that he can do what he pleases. By saying that in May he had another Assembly, he has already revealed his main plan. having power centralized in the presidency, ”says Handal.
“Supine ignorance”
The executive director of the National Development Foundation (Fon), Roberto Rubio, described this idea as “supine ignorance” because they do not understand that the only way to have another budget for the rest of the year, even if they arrive to have a majority in the Assembly is to increase revenue and this will only be done with debt.
For him, trying to spend the budget in 4 months is almost impossible, it is a sign of ignorance, “especially when it comes to a rather inept government that has not even been able to build the hospital El Salvador. It is not just a matter of money but of capacity “.
“From where you see it is not credible,” said in this regard the economist and dean of the School of Economics and Business (ESEN), Carmen Aída Llaç, who adds that it gives the idea that the current administration ” it still doesn’t know how the state works and its processes. “
Ros also added that this, far from being a serious announcement on a technical basis, is an electoral maneuver that seeks to “demoralize” the opposition by showing that an overwhelming victory for the president’s party is inevitable.