Some $500 million in loans and grants from foreign governments and international agencies is awaiting congressional approval, according to Rafael Albuquerque, senate president. Speaking at yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony of Hipolito Mejia and Milagros Ortiz Bosch, the legislator said that approval of the loans and grants would be the first priority of the new legislative season, if consistent with the new government’s priorities. Albuquerque stated that other legislation is pending in one or both houses of congress. He mentioned a new social security law, monetary reform act, ant-corruption legislation, hidro-carbons (fuel oil) legislation, commercial code, fiscal amnesty law, customs duties reforms, higher education law, municipal revenue support, free trade law, and law of intellectual property, and the regulation of the electricity sector.
