The official said mayors should wait for “approval in the Assembly.”
The finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, confirmed this morning that they cannot “force” him to pay the Fodes that he has owed to the mayor’s office for more than nine months. “The resolution is clear and says that the minister must take the steps that are within his powers to make payments because they know they cannot force me to pay them directly,” Zelaya said, referring to the Constitutional resolution. Room.
However, on February 4, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to “immediately” carry out the administrative and financial procedures so that the funds are paid.
The highest court orders him to draw up a transfer calendar so that the payment arrears are not “repeated”, which is mandatory because it is the law of the Republic.
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The Treasury has stopped transferring the money to the 262 mayors since June 2020. Until January of this year, the debt was $ 360 million, as reported last month by the president of the Salvadoran Municipal Development Institute (ISDEM), the mayor of San Salvador. , Ernesto Muyshondt.
“The mayors have to wait for the Fodes until we get approval in the General Assembly; I cannot pay them and I run the risk of not paying the foreign debt ”, the minister said during the interview on channel 12.
The new Legislative Assembly will begin its term on May 1, during which the ruling New Ideas party will hold the majority of the seats and favor Nayib Bukele’s government.
Zelaya also admitted that they are behind in payments to suppliers. “We started with cost savings at fiscal cash level, there were delays not only at Fodes but also at suppliers; We had to postpone it so as not to default, ”he added. And he reiterated that “I am obliged to prioritize spending to prevent damage to public finances and citizens, I cannot stop paying doctors and nurses’ salaries to pay mayors.”
He also indicated that they would raise $ 987 million in February, but they raised $ 919 million, so they hope they can offset the 2% in March and April and increase the over budget collection.