November 29, 2024, 10:01 PM
November 29, 2024, 10:01 PM
The General State Budget (PGE) for 2025 will arrive incomplete next year. The bill highlights the authorization to the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) to grant a loan to the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance to finance 2024 expenses.
In the final provisions of the Budget Bill it indicates that “The Central Bank of Bolivia is authorized to grant an extraordinary credit under concessional conditions in favor of the Ministry of Economy and Public Financethrough the General Treasury of the Nation, intended to finance the payment of its short-term obligations generated as of December 31, 2024, within the framework of public debt administration and liability management operations. For this purpose, the Central Bank of Bolivia is exempt from the application of Articles 22 and 23 of Law 1670 of October 31, 1995,” says the text in the First provision.
On the subject, the economist Gonzalo Chávez affirms that the provision in the norm is a Christmas gift for the Ministry of Economy “for how well it has behaved” in the administration that is about to end.
“It means that Santa Claus, Central Bank of Bolivia, will probably help pay the 2024 bonusesbecause it will give you a credit from the next budget to pay today. This is an accounting miracle,” says Chávez.
The PGE 2025 that was announced on Monday, November 25, has generated much criticism from the population and especially from the opposition. They assure that it does not respond to the reality of Bolivians.
One of the main criticisms is that The budget allocated to State bodies is 34 times greater than that of all the country’s governorates. They maintain that it is neither austere nor measured, considering the current economic and financial crisis that the public sector is mainly experiencing.
In this framework and according to the analysis of the president of the College of Economists of Tarija, Fernando Romero, indicates that the PGE 2025 will be for Bs. 369,340,694.52, of which 84% will be allocated to the three organs of the State (Executive, Legislative and Judicial). 10% of it will be budgeted in favor of subnational governments and universities, that is, governorates, 3%; municipal governments, 5% and public universities, 2% and the balance to the rest of the country’s public entities (6%).
“If we make a brief comparison The PGE allocated to State bodies – he continued – represents 34 times more than that of the 9 governorates. as a whole in Bolivia. The budget for all municipalities in the country only represents 6% of the total assigned to the three bodies. Finally, with respect to public universities, their total budget is 46 times less based on the same comparison.”
For now, the PGE 2025 Bill is not approved and the Plurinational Legislative Assembly has 60 days to approve the norm, otherwise its approval will be automatic as in the 2024 administration, because the arcismo did not have a majority to sanction the norm in parliament.
