President Danilo Medina, Vice President Margarita Cedeno and the Council of Ministers approved the National Budget bill on Wednesday, 23 September 2015 with total spending of RD$663.56 billion for 2016. The bill will be submitted to Congress tomorrow, Tuesday, 29 September 2015. Minister of Hacienda Simon Lizardo says that the budget places a special emphasis on public health with its RD$5 billion allocation for improvements in public hospitals to be executed through the Office for Supervisory Public Works of the Presidency (OISOE). Of the allocations, RD$778 million will be used to build primary health care and diagnostic centers nationwide.
The Public Health Ministry had a budget of RD$60.95 billion in 2015. In 2016, it will receive a 2.6% increase to RD$62.53 billion.
The Ministry of Education will receive the largest public funding allocations with RD$129.87 billion, up 8.8% on the RD$119.36 billion assignments for 2015.
The Higher Education Ministry also receives an increase of 7.5%, going from RD$10.99 billion in 2015 to RD$11.81 billion in 2016.
The Ministry of Culture received an increase of 13.5%, going from RD$1.93 billion in 2015 to RD$2.19 billion in 2016.
The Ministry of Public Works’ budget is up 13.4% from RD$24.89 billion in 2015 to RD$28.22 billion in 2016.
The National Police will receive an additional RD$300 million in 2016.
The Ministry of Environment’s budget has been cut from RD$5.96 billion in 2016 to RD$5.68 billion in 2015.
Economist Ernesto Selman criticized the announced RD$663.56 billion budget, saying that the Medina administration maintains the same deficit budget policy, with more spending than estimated revenue, which will force it to continue taking on debt, as has been the case in recent years.
Selman said the government has underestimated its revenue, adding that he expects it to take on US$1.5 billion in debt in 2016.
Read more in Spanish:
http://www.hacienda.gov.do/comunicaciones/noticias/presidente_ministros_aprueban_anteproyecto_presupuesto2016.htm
http://www.diariolibre.com/economia/economistas-sindicalistas-y-politicos-cuestionan-el-presupuesto-para-el-ano-proximo-CN1348554
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/politica/dicen-reduccion-de-la-pobreza-no-se-percibe-en-la-poblacion-CL1379545
http://www.diariolibre.com/economia/en-2016-gobierno-enfrentara-estrechez-fiscal-con-mas-deuda-HJ1380801