The director general of the National Budget Office, Luis Reyes Santos says that the US$1.44 billion (RD$75.5 billion) the government will borrow in 2019 will be used to cover the deficit and service the national debt. Reyes Santos said the borrowing would make it possible to not increase the net national debt, despite despite adding to the gross national debt. “We are taking on debt to pay liabilities. That is, our debt will not be increased in that proportion,” said the officer. He said the remainder of the funds will be used to pay for legal cases and international organizations.
The Medina administration announced a National Budget for RD$921.8 billion for next year, including RD$643.9 billion in current expenditures, RD$121.5 billion in capital investments and the remainder to pay towards the national public debt.
The National Budget is estimated a rate of RD$52.18 to the US$1.
An editorial in Diario Libre observes that for the RD$921.81 billion budget, the government says it needs to borrow RD$231.88 billion to cover the government deficit, or around 25% of the budget.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
3 October 2018
