Last Tuesday, during a plenary session of the Congress of the Republic, the president of the Senate, Efraín Cepeda, warned of a “paralysis” in the legislature Because the Ministry of Finance had not allocated the resources for its operation.
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“I ask the Ministry of Finance not to treat us as a government entity but as an independent branch of public power, which is currently paralyzed by lack of resources.”Cepeda said in his speech, in relation to other complaints about the lack of allocation of money by the National Government.
“We raise our voices to tell you that it cannot be that an important part of the legislative power is paralyzed because the Ministry of Finance does not give us the resources to which we are entitled,” he added.
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Hours after the complaint made by Senator Cepeda, an internal communication from Dane was made known, in which workers with contracts for the provision of services were informed of delays in payments, related to lack of cash availability by the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla addressed both allegations during a round of questions to journalists on Wednesday.
General Budget of the Nation
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In it she said that “Congress’ complaint is relatively unfounded”.
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“The truth is that in Congress there is a historical tradition that the board of directors of the first semester is not given all the money for the year because otherwise they leave the board of directors of the second semester underfunded. That board of directors of the second semester has only been functioning for a month and they are asking for the distribution of the resources that are frozen for them,” said Bonilla.
He added that For the Senate, 22 billion pesos have already been unfrozen for its operation.
In response to complaints from other entities, the minister said that “There are no such difficulties. What exists today is a discussion about what the PAC (Annual Cash Programming) should be for each entity according to its needs, really adjusted to the execution.”.
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