Swine fever and spending on vaccine against COVID-19 force the Government to reformulate this year’s State Budget
The Director General of the Budget, José Rijo, alleged in the Chamber of Deputies that facing swine fever represented a deficit of 4.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the country, since the Ministry of Agriculture had to invest RD $ 1,400 million of pesos.
He defended the approval of the Supplementary Budget that the Executive Power submitted and that a special commission of the Chamber of Deputies is studying since this week, to reformulate the Budget executed this year, because the purchase of vaccines against the coronavirus could not be contemplated in the item budgetary.
He said this was because, when it was approved, it was not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States Government agency (FDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). He argued that the 2021 Budget has an increase in State spending, due to the virus and fever in pigs. He highlighted that within the Supplementary Budget raises a net increase of RD $ 85,211.5 million in expenses, but that for the remainder of the year, it has been mitigated by the prioritization and efficiency in the quality of public spending. The official was called by the commission of deputies chaired by Francisco Javier Paulino, to explain the addendum to the 2021 Budget -second this year-. He indicated that the project introduces modifications to the total income, spending and financing of the State in this fiscal year, taking into account the economic and health crisis that exists. Many projects could not be included in the current budget.
