Rafael Camilo, the director of the Oficina Nacional de Planificacion, says the government has planned a budget for 1997 of RD$30,000 million. The priority area for government funding will be education, health, and agriculture. In the 1996 budget, the government budgeted an expenditure of RD$26,968.1 million. Education alone will receive over RD$3,700 million in 1997. He explained the government expects to take advantage of external resources by providing the required proportion of government funds. In the past, the country was not able to access such international funding because of lack of the requisite local funding.