One of the reform proposals made by the FMLN was to redirect unallocated credit funds for the pandemic to lower debt financing. The Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, took three bills in this regard on Tuesday.
The Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, presented this Tuesday in the Assembly several bills for the deputies without having an excuse, said the official, to give their votes and approve the 2021 budget.
Zelaya agreed that next year’s spending debt, seen as the fiscal gap to be financed to meet state commitments, will be reduced by reorienting loans that the Assembly has yet to ratify and allocate, initially earmarked for pandemic, and resorting to government advertising and consulting.
One of the reform proposals made by the FMLN was to redirect unallocated credit funds for the pandemic to lower debt financing. The Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, took three bills in this regard on Tuesday.
According to the FMLN the government allocated $ 57 million by 2021 just to hire consultants and a million-dollar amount of resources also for advertising from different government institutions.
SEE ALSO: 2021 Budget overestimates revenue by $ 714.1 million
MP Yanci Urbina, from the FMLN, questioned whether the government wants to use this fund to “pay favors” to third parties and “raise the image” of government officials.
According to Zelaya, by reducing its costs and taking back the loans we provide you for COVID, it will be possible to reduce the debt of next year’s budget financing from $ 1,342.2 million to $ 161 million. “We will reduce the amount of debt initially requested in the 2021 budget of $ 1.342 million to $ 161 million, we will take all the COVID financing that was trapped by the Finance Committee (of the Assembly) and we will transfer to the financing of the budget gap of 2021. This gives us the option so that the deputies finally approve the budget of 2021 ”, stated Zelaya in a press conference in the Assembly.
He also reported that they have made reductions in Government Communications and consulting items, but did not specify how much. Zelaya explained that, in addition, adjustments have been made to make increases to several entities, including the University of El Salvador for $ 10 million to build two university headquarters in Chalatenango and Morazán.
SEE ALSO: Deputies evaluate reorienting pandemic loans pending ratification to cover 2021 budget deficit
Another $ 5 million will go to the Supreme Electoral Court to hold safe elections, in the sense of implementing biosecurity measures against COVID-19.
For the Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP), it was mentioned that $ 750,000 more will be moved to reach the $ 950,000 they have requested. The resources will be taken from the expenditure item of the Ministry of Finance.
For the payment of the new vaccine against COVID-19, Zelaya asked the deputies to approve before a loan of $ 50 million with the IDB for Health, to take from all part of the funds that were required to acquire the vaccine against the disease. It was estimated that the total investment could be around $ 100 million.
As for the counterpart of Fomilenio II, he asked the deputies to reorient $ 50 million of another credit with the IDB for $ 250 million that is already agreed in the Assembly, and the rest of the sea money intended to finance the debt of the 2021 budget.
Deputy Emilio Corea, from ARENA, reported that the last plenary session of this year will be held next Tuesday. The Finance Committee of the Assembly agreed to give 8 days to further analyze the proposed reforms of the parties to national spending and resume the study on Monday 21 December.