The chairman of the bi-cameral commission that is studying the proposed budget for 2015, Senator Tommy Galan, confirmed yesterday, Monday 3 November 2014 that some chapters are being reshuffled, but the RD$630.93 billion total will remain the same. The new budget will be formally presented to the Senate tomorrow, Wednesday, 5 November, he said. From there it will pass to the Chamber of Deputies.
The Judicial Branch will receive a RD$100 million increase in its allocation for Public defense services, the Constitutional Court will receive an additional RD$200 million, and the Supreme Court of Justice will be given another RD$300 million to be used by the Executive Branch to build a new Palace of Justice in Santo Domingo Province.
In addition, the Superior Electoral Court will get RD$100 million as well as the 250 million they received in 2014.
Galan added that the Ministry of Public Health would receive RD$4 billion in addition to the RD$60 billion already in their budget for 2015.
The government has also increased funding to farming clusters in 19 provinces by RD$50 million.
The Chamber of Accounts, which serves as a government auditing office will receive an additional RD$50 million.
According to Galan, President Danilo Medina has pledged to provide the Central Electoral Board (JCE) with the resources needed to guarantee that the national elections for 2016 are transparent and fair. President Medina has also asked for extra budgetary resources for the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD).
Galan went on to say that around RD$21 billion that had originally been allocated to recapitalizing the Central Bank would be redistributed.
Meanwhile, deputies who serve in the bi-cameral commission protested at not being included in the meeting to finalize the redistribution of the funds. Ruben Maldonado, vice chairman of the commission and spokesman for the PLD block of the Chamber of Deputies criticized their exclusion by the bi-cameral commission chairman, senator Tommy Galan. Maldonado said the Senate could make its decisions, and then the deputies would fulfill their role once the bill goes to their chamber.