Both houses of Congress have approved the legislation that will allow an association of funds, which in turn will allow the Executive Branch to transfer RD$3.86 billion from the tax reform income. This strategy only came about, according to El Caribe, after the Budget Office approved an additional RD$45 million for Congress. The legislation specifies that the funds are surpluses that were generated by the application of the tax reform package that was put into effect in September.
In other news from Congress, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, told reporters that local IMF representative Ousmene Mandeng held a private meeting with him and Senate leader Andres Bautista. The central issues included a request for a major modification to the newly-imposed fiscal reform legislation. Both congressional leaders told Mandeng, however, that this would not be possible. Instead, the legislative bosses said they had arrived at an agreement that would allow Congress to use just 55% of the money that by law is part of their budget. The law states that Congress is entitled to 7% of the National Budget, but in light of the need to reduce spending and continue the talks with the IMF, the legislators agreed to 55% of what they would normally obtain.