President Danilo Medina signed into law the National Budget bill on Friday, 20 December 2019. The bill had passed in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, 19 December, and in the Senate on Thursday, 12 December.
In a third try, Chamber of Deputies president Radames Camacho was able to obtain the needed quorum and votes for the record-breaking RD$997.12 billion 2020 National Budget to pass. The vote was 97 votes in favor, four against and 31 deputies did not vote, but their presence enabled the needed quorum.
Four loans for US$625 million were approved in an extraordinary session on Saturday, 22 December. The funds are incorporated in the 2020 National Budget. Of these loans, US$400 million is for the electricity sector and US$100 million is with the French Development Agency (AFD) for expansion of the Santo Domingo Metro service. The Medina administration was authorized to issue bonds for RD$246.2 billion to fund the spending. The other loan approved was that of the European Investment Bank for the sum of US$50,000,000.00, to be used to finance the mitigation of disasters. The project is under the Ministry of Public Works and the National Housing Institute (INVI).
The deputies also passed the second reading on the RD$1.2 billion loan to pay Christmas wages for city governments and decentralized agencies that had spent these funds. This was then passed in the Senate.
The congressmen also approved the loan signed between the Dominican Republic and the OPEC Fund for International Development, in the amount of US$75,000,000.00, to finance the Loss Reduction and Rehabilitation Program for Electrical Distribution, Phase III.
Read more in Spanish:
Presidencia
El Dia
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
N Digital
23 December 2019