The Front of All (FdT) of the Chamber of Deputies will seek next week agreements with Together for Change (JxC) and provincial blocks on the 2023 Budget, in order to have an opinion with the greatest possible consensus ahead of the session to be held on October 25 and 26.
The sanction of the main law that Congress must address is key for the national government to have a roadmap on expenses and resources, since this year it had to extend the 2021 Budget since the opposition rejected the PEN proposal.
For this reason, the ruling party sought to begin discussing the initiative a few days after it was sent to the National Congress and since the presentation of the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, negotiations were sought with the opposition to have a law that garnered the greatest amount of political supportin a delicate economic moment.
The 2023 Budget estimates a growth of the economy of 2%, an inflationary guideline of 60% and a decrease in the fiscal deficit from 2.5% to 1.9%, which is sought with reduction of expenses and subsidies.
A distinctive fact is that more than 65% of the funds will be allocated to social expenses, including payments for the different assistance plans, as well as retirement and pensions, and funds for health, science and education will be prioritized.
The project estimates a total expenditure of almost $29 billion, with an approximate collection of $22.5 billion and a primary deficit of $6.3 billion.
In the first weeks of debate, nine ministers and more than 20 national officials attended to inform about the law of expenses and resourcesso that the deputies have as much as possible and after that round of consultation, the budget began to be analyzed last Thursday.
Now the discussion will continue this Tuesday at 1 pm in the Budget Commission -led by Carlos Heller- and in this second meeting since they will address proposals that will be made by both pro-government and opposition legislators.
The work scheme announced by Heller consists of deal Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the project of more than one hundred articles, and on the last day issue the opinion that it will be dealt with in a session divided into two days as requested by the opposition, since it will last at least 24 hours.
The work scheme consists of treating Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the project of more than one hundred articles, and on the last day issuing the opinion.
In order to advance agreements, the president of the FdT bloc, Germán Martínez, asked the deputies that the benches “generate a list of the topics under debate that require more debate in particular.”
Martínez wants to have the requests of the opposition to seek to bring positions closer and to be able to fulfill his goal that this year the Government has the Budget approved -after the setback suffered last year- and the signals that the opposition gives today left the doors open for that happen.
For the ruling party it is key to be able to thread agreements with the opposition blocs since it has 118 legislators -117 in conditions to vote- with which it needs at least fifteen to have a looser majority that exceeds 129 votes.
Supports, propositions and differences
The FdT trusts that it will have the support of the four legislators from the United Provinces, eight from the Federal Interbloc, one from the Popular Movement and the bulk of JxC, which could vote for this initiative in general, although some will vote against it and there will be abstentions.
The main issues that were raised in the commission were an increase in allocations for universities, an increase in funds for automotive passenger transport in the interior of the country, limiting the powers of the Government to increase retentions and the inclusion of certain works public.
The vice president of the commission, Luciano Laspina (PRO) -one of the opposition economic swordsmen- anticipated last Thursday that this opposition coalition wants the government to have “a budget, and respect it, so that there are also guarantees that a fiscal bomb is not left to the next government”specified the legislator.
One of the issues that generates differences is the increase in subsidies for passenger transport from the interior of the country, since it was established that they will be $66,000 million and the deputies of the provinces want to add resources and that there is a more balanced distribution between the metropolitan region and the interior of the country.
Another point is the inflation pattern and its impact on collectionand that is why JxC wants to include an article so that if the price increase is greater than 60% and therefore the collection, a correction is sent on how the distribution will be as it was done in 2020.
Another issue raised by JxC is article 96 that enables the Government to increase agricultural withholdingsand the opposition wants to establish what the rates will be and only authorize if there is a reduction, according to Laspina
The 2023 Budget
The project of expenses and resources for 2023 also foresees a increase in private consumption estimated at 2.2% and investment at 2.9%while in terms of financing, the aim is to reduce monetary assistance from the Central Bank to the Treasury.
Refering to spending distributionthe project contemplates allocating $1.6 trillion to the Government Administration, $1.2 trillion to Defense and Security Services, $18 trillion to social spending, $4.5 trillion to economic services and $2.9 trillion to public debt, which implies almost $29 trillions.
Budget contemplates an increase in exports of 7.1% against imports that would increase 2% next year, and in this way, the trade surplus would go from USD 7.7 billion this year to USD 12.3 billion in 2023.
Another central aspect will be the possibility of laundering dollars for the payment of imports of supplies and services for production processes, and for the construction of real estate projects as well as for the purchase of used homes.
