The 2004 budget will be adjusted according to reality, President Hipolito Mejia said yesterday, although he did not comment on the report in yesterday’s Hoy newspaper that predicted overspending to the tune of RD$45 billion for next year. The President joked that if he were to fulfill all his ministries’ requests he would require the budgetary means of the United States. Declaring that this variance was a normal state of affairs, he went on to say the country would have to make do with what was available. “There is no other way. We have to get the money for the things we need, according to the reality of the situation.” Hoy reported yesterday that it had seen an official document titled “Budget Projections for 2004” in which the essential government expenditures for 2004 was forecast at RD$153 billion, while the expected income was approximately RD$88 billion – a deficit of RD$45 billion. Hoy’s main editorial column analyzes the situation and calls on the government to control its spending, promote savings, reduce the external debt and clean up the State’s financial management. The editorialist says there is no other alternative, “unless of course the political interests of a few are put above the interests of the nation as a whole.”