Funde’s executive director, Roberto Rubio, described the statements as “lying ignorance” or a “moral dissolution in his intentions.” Other economists classify it as illegal and not very credible nonsense.
Nayib Bukele’s government plans to release the entire Public Works budget for 2021 in four months and wait for a new arithmetic favorable to his party, configured in the Legislative Assembly to ask for more money as a ‘ alternative ‘to the changes that the deputies They did the spending plan for the following year.
“And so that the works don’t stop, we will be investing within 4 months what they have allocated to us for the year,” the president wrote in a summary of a video explaining which areas the money will be allocated to.
This statement was later supported by the Minister of Public Works, Romeo Rodríguez, who stated in a radio interview: “As the president said, we are going to use the budget for the whole year in four months. We will then ask in the new Legislative Assembly for the necessary resources to carry out work on behalf of the country, ”said the official.
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This would mean a double budget for next year, at a time when the Salvadoran economy is in recession and debt is reaching 90% of GDP. The approved spending plan for next year is $ 7,453.5 million, but has a deficit or financial deficit of $ 1,342 million, which will be funded through loans and the issuance of titles for $ 137.5 million.
Hours after this tweet, President Bukele tried to explain that the public works budget will be spent in 4 months. “The deputies have reduced the amount of the Public Works budget and left it at 1/3 of the original. 4 months is exactly 1/3 of 12 months. And 4 months is exactly the time until the new Legislative Assembly takes effect. and replace the remaining 2/3 ”, he added.
“Lying ignorance”
After this statement, the Executive Director of the National Development Foundation (Funde), Roberto Rubio, described this idea as ‘lying ignorance’ because they don’t understand that the only way to have a different budget for the rest of the year, even if they have a majority In the People’s Assembly it is to increase income and that will only happen with debt.
“The way the country is, and especially if the creditors know they want to spend the budget in four months, that’s a terrible sign. It’s not just blowing and making bottles, as the saying goes. This is something you can actually see that is the only way to be in debt in circumstances where you are not willing to go into debt, ”Rubio criticizes.
It is almost impossible for him to spend the budget in four months, it is a sign of ignorance, “especially when it comes to a rather clumsy government that has not even been able to build the hospital in El Salvador. It is not only a question of money, but also of capacity ”.
“Wherever you see it, it is not credible,” said economist and dean of the Higher School of Economics and Business (ESEN), Carmen Aída Lazo, adding that it gives the impression that the current government “still does not knows how it works the state and its processes ”.
The economist Tatiana Marroquín, for her part, described it as stupid. “What a shame to be an economist and make these statements. What he says is not only irresponsible and illegal, it is also great ignorance from a tax point of view. According to this bug, when the budget is approved, they give them the bags of money for the whole year? What nonsense, ”he said.