Economic analysts consider that the treatment given by the assembly members to the budget proposal lacks technical rigor.
After around six hours of debate, the Plenary of the Assembly decided to send observations to the Executive on the Budget Proforma 2022. This happened with 94 votes in favor and 37 abstentions.
The observations were in line with what was initially raised by the Economic Regime Commission and have to do with the budget allocation to the sector educational and of Health.
The assignment of budget to universities and polytechnic schools is also another element in question. During the debate, the Assembly members stated that this sector does not have enough means for the opening of quotas for students who graduate each year.
During the debate, the independent assemblywoman Amada Ortiz assured that there is a 83% cut for universities.
With 94 votes, the #PlenoLegislativo watch the # ProformaPresupuestaria2022 and the Quadrennial Budget Program 2022-2025, based on the motion and draft resolution presented by the legislator @mireyapaza. pic.twitter.com/MJDgpYH8jN
– National Assembly (@AsntaciónEcuador) November 18, 2021
However, for Jaime Carrera, economist and director of the Observatory of Fiscal Policy, are observations they have no technical foundations and “there is no complete understanding of how the Public finances nor the technical rigor of how they are handled. The treatment of this document by the assembly members is precarious.
He points out that the Proforma (which for the following year amounts to $ 33,899.73 million) was presented with a deficit of around $ 3.783 million and that, even so, the assembly members demand an increase.
«Giving more resources to health and education would make the deficit increases. The Assembly has to tell the country how it is going to contribute to reduce this deficit, ”Carrera details.
For his part, the assembly member for UNES Pabel Muñoz says that the proforma “is a technical trick that at the end of the day penalizes the needs of education and health. This evidences the demagogy of the campaign offers ».
He added that the Plenary expects the Executive to comply with the term 10 days to return the Proforma and accept your comments detailing the amount of resources to be deliver for health and education.
However, Carrera recommends that the President make “prevail the Proforma as it is, because the observations have no basis for fiscal sustainability.
Esteban Torres (PSC), one of the assembly members who abstained in his vote, questioned the complete text, noting that it does not conform to the Four-Year Planning. “The Proforma It is a power and a faculty of the Executive (…) that does not even fit the campaign plan, ”he said.
Allocations for retirement incentives and financing for the social rehabilitation system were also requested by Parliament.
Based on these comments, the Executive has 10 days to review them and send a new proposal to the Assembly or to be ratified in its initial proposal, according to the Organic Law of the Legislative Function (LOFL), which also establishes that the Assembly, in the following 10 days, may ratify its observations, in a single debate.
If this does not happen, the Budget Proforma 2022 sent, in second instance, by the Executive. (MFU)
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