The National Budget office announced the submitting of amendments to the budget for 2023 in order to reassign around RD$20 billion in savings after oil prices dropped. Rijo Presbot spoke on El Despertador on Channel 9. He said the surplus would be allocated to infrastructure, housing and potable water works that are the country’s priorities. He said 43% of the National Budget is designated for social services.
The government is now working on the budget allotments for 2024. He said on 6 July 2023 the council of ministers had met to propose the budget for 2024 with the tops for the spending and ministries now are preparing their budgets for next year. The deficit for 2024 should not be more than 3.1% for 2024.
Rijo Presbot said the Abinader administration is allocating an additional RD$25 billion to the Ministry of Education for 2024. Ministry of Education is 18% of the total budget, he said. He said the Ministry of Education was being allocated RD$300 million in the 2024 budget, up from RD$275 billion.
Furthermore, he highlighted capital spending has picked up speed. He said the capital investments include potable water works, housing, roads, the Monte Grande dam, the Santiago monorail, the Metro line to Los Alcarrizo, infrastructure works such as the UASD university branch in Hato Mayor, sports facilities all around the country and hospitals in the provinces, among others.
Rijo Presbot also shared that the Budget Agency is working on improving its statistics by regions and provinces. He says at present there still is a centralization of data collection.
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19 July 2023