National Budget director Luis Reyes Santos admits that improving the quality of government spending is a task that is still pending in this country. He said that the country has not got the programs or the capacity to monitor the spending. As a result, the budget is a mere financial instrument and not a development strategy tool. Reyes is deputy minister of Hacienda in charge of the budget. He said that in the past three years some pilot programs have been begun to allow for better budget execution monitoring.
Reyes acknowledged that the department has never had the capacity to monitor budget implementation, but he said there is more transparency and efficiency in the use of the funds.