The Mejia administration has announced a RD$4,400 million spending cut from now until December. President Hipolito Mejia said the government would cut spending by RD$135 million in June and July (5%) and by RD$270 million as of August (another 5%). The President announced a commission to supervise the spending cuts made up of the National Budget Office, the National Treasury, the Controller Office and the National Planning Office. Director of the National Budget Luis Ernesto Perez Cuevas said savings will come from a freeze on government hiring and cuts in spending for meal allowances, fuel consumption and supplies. The idea is to use the RD$4,400 million for capital investments that had been stalled due to government spending excesses. He said the government would leave untouched the disbursements now made to the National Congress, municipalities, Chamber of Accounts, Supreme Court of Justice, Central Electoral Board and the Ministry of Education. The 2001 National Budget is RD$65,177.4 million of which 66% is for current expenditures and 34% is for investments. d By May, government departments had already consumed 70% of the budget, as reported in the Listin Diario. The cutback announcement comes at a time when the government is preparing to issue the country’s first sovereign bonds. Business sectors had urged the government to put its own finances in order. The Listin Diario had reported that at the present pace of spending the government would end the year with a RD$10,000 million fiscal deficit, despite the hefty tax increases in January.
