The National Business Council (Conep) says that the fiscal proposal is unsustainable, and that their support would be conditional on a reduction in public expenditure.
“We are willing to be part of the joint solution, as long as the starting point is to achieve levels that are really sustainable in the public finances, through the restructuring and drastic reduction of public expenditure,” warned the business leaders in a public statement.
In a paid advertisement in the national newspapers, they indicate that the serious deterioration of the country’s public finances is rooted in “the excessive and unsustainable increase in public spending.” “By the close of this year, the projected expenditures will be up more than 40% more than the year before. Paradoxically, this continual increase in governmental public expenditures has not been translated into more or improved public services,” they said.
The Conep statement says that the excessive government spending has caused an accumulated deficit of the central government for 2008-2011 of more than RD$225 million, and the deficit for the close of the year will now be RD$150 million. “That level of spending is a serious threat to macroeconomic stability. The question we ask is: “How can we give efficient use to what we are already contributing?”