The Ministry of Health (Minsa) will receive 19 748.5 million córdobas from the General Budget of the Republic planned for 2022, although during the first nine months of 2021 it reports a poor execution of the “covid budget” this year, despite the impact of the pandemic In Nicaragua.
82.7% of the Minsa budget in 2022 is planned to cover current expenses focused on professional services, goods and services, and transfers. Meanwhile, the remaining 17.3% is for capital spending, with an estimated 3,048.7 million córdobas for the construction or improvement of 21 works, which include health posts.
Despite having the covid-19 pandemic on its back and the demand for high vaccination coverage to achieve a percentage of immunization, the Minsa budget for 2022 only details that the external support funds obtained since 2020 will be used and that they have not yet been executed. In 2021, the Ministry of Health will close with a budget of 21 510.0 million cordobas.
Slow execution of the “covid budget”
The latest report on the budget execution of the Minsa, published last September by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, reveals that the State has barely used 20.5% of the budget allocated to care for the pandemic. The “covid budget” for 2021 is 5,014.7 million cordobas, which is equivalent to 1.0% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and in September only 1,029.0 million cordobas have been used.
The 2020 budget document justifies that in the coming year “resources will continue to be guaranteed to combat the pandemic and the vaccination process, in which resources from the international community and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), in support of the Government’s efforts to reach at least 70% of the Nicaraguan population vaccinated, as recommended by the World Health Organization ”.
Between 2020 and 2021, these multilateral organizations approved loans amounting to 185.4 million dollars to attend the covid-19 pandemic in Nicaragua, with which it was planned to buy vaccines, modernize emergency rooms, hospitalization and intensive care units to increase the capacity to care for patients with coronavirus, acquisition of medical equipment and medicines.
However, it is unknown why the State has executed only a fifth of the amount of 5,014.7 million córdobas destined for the care of the pandemic, mainly because Nicaragua was the country in Central America with the longest lag in access to vaccines and even, during For the first eight months of this year, it relied almost entirely on donations of vaccines.
Likewise, the authorities dedicated minimal effort to identify and warn in time about the SAR-CoV-2 variants that began to circulate in the region since last May, including the delta variant that, according to medical opinions, could detonate the strongest wave of covid-19 that was registered in the country between August and last September.
To date, one of the few investments mentioned by the Minsa, this year, is the improvement in the cold chain, with which it is now possible to store deep-frozen vaccines, such as Pfizer. However, it is unknown how much this investment amounts to and where the funds came from.
Last October, the National Assembly also approved a reform to the General Budget of the Republic 2021, with which it allocated 700 million córdobas, equivalent to 19.8 million dollars, to form a “fund for the acquisition of vaccines and supplies necessary against the covid -19 ”, but there is no progress or information on this either.
In June, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP) reported that the Minsa had occupied 481.1 million córdobas, which represented less than 10% of the “covid budget”. For September, the execution amounted to 1029.0 million córdobas, which represents a difference of more than double compared to what was executed in June.
The Budget Execution Report details that in the 2021 General Expenditure Budget, 702.4 million cordobas were approved to attend the pandemic, allocating 408.7 million (58.2%) to the Minsa, and 214.4 million (30.5%) to the Ministry of Education, among others .
Between January and September, 4,312.3 million córdobas were incorporated (between loans and external donations) to reach an updated annual budget of 5014.7 million to cover the cost of covid-19, by adding a loan from the International Monetary Fund of 3303.4 million córdobas ; 250.0 million from the IDB; 176.9 million from the World Bank, 106.1 million from Taiwan, 475.8 million, from higher income obtained by the Minsa and 0.1 million from the Comptroller General of the Republic.
