The Dominican State received this Monday RD$303.1 million from the European Unionresources that will be used to promote institutional strengthening, transparency of the finance governance, democratic governance and the improvement of public services.
With this latest disbursement of funds, provided through the cooperation instrument called “Budget Support”, the government will focus on strengthening the guidelines of the budget multiannual, the control and integration mechanisms between the Public Investment System and the Financial Management Information System (Sigef).
This was explained by the Minister of Finance, José Manuel –Jochi– Vicente, who added that the resources will also be used in the massive deployment for the interconnection of the Transactional Purchasing Portal with the Sigef.
Vicente indicated that with the resources of the program it has been possible to promote the transparency through the expansion of the Transactional Portal of the Purchasing System, as well as the integration of a greater number of public sector entities.
“Another mechanism to guarantee the transparency has been the implementation of citizen oversight through the monitoring committees, a task that has strengthened the framework and State surveillance of public procurement processes,” he said.
The official said that these advances have as their central axis the transparency in the allocation and execution of public funds and the dissemination of these results to the public.
“It is a source of satisfaction for the Ministry of Finance to receive the disbursement of the last items of the Progef programs (Support for the reform of the administration and finance of the Dominican Republic and the mobilization of internal income) and Parap (Support for the reform of public administration and the quality of public services), resources destined to support the reform of finance public,” he declared.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Miguel Ceara Hatton, added that these budget support programs have become an ally of the public politics in the areas of institutional strengthening, results-based management and efficiency in the management of finance public.
Ceara Hatton pointed out that the government is committed to redesigning the country’s institutional planning process, seeking to articulate different policies and institutions with the common goal of improving the living conditions of citizens.
“We have to change the institutional culture, the way of doing things. We have to completely put an end to impunity, which was for many years an instrument of public politics and that only ends if we transform the institutional framework,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ambassador of the delegation of the European UnionKatja Ahfeldt, declared that this new disbursement will allow the promotion of a more efficient and transparent financial management of the public administration, aimed at increasing the flow of taxes and providing increasingly satisfactory public services, in particular in the creation of budgets oriented to results.
Ahfeldt formally handed over the funds to the Ministers of Finance, Economy, Planning and Development, and Public Administration.
