Edwin Ruiz, the economic reporter for the Listin Diario, shows how the 2003 budget was used by the government in Sunday’s edition. Writing with his tongue firmly planted in cheek, Ruiz says that the 2003 financial plan suffered strong “intestinal movements” that took resources from one place and added them to others. There was a nominal increase of 10.4 % over what had been allotted. According to the National Budget Office (ONAPRES), the account that received the most money was Debt Service, whose inflows “jumped” from the RD$14.31 billion scheduled at the beginning of the year to the historic amount of RD$25.74 billion. This represents 179.86% more than was originally planned for in the budget. The most “blessed” governmental areas with regards to reassigned funding were the President’s office, which received nearly 125% of the budget, having scheduled RD$9.494 billion and receiving RD$11.834 billion. The other side of the coin is seen in the budget of the ministries of Education and Public Health. The Ministry of Education received in allotments only 85% (RD$9.5 billion) of what had been allotted, and the Ministry of Public Health (RD$6.9 billion) suffered cuts of 21.7%, which was reflected in the arrears in payments that curtailed public health services last year. On the other hand, the Ministry of Interior and Police received 110% of its budget and the Armed Forces received 99.9%. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edwin Ruiz, the economic reporter for the Listin Diario, shows how the 2003 budget was used by the government in Sunday’s edition. Writing with his tongue firmly planted in cheek, Ruiz says that the 2003 financial plan suffered strong “intestinal movements” that took resources from one place and added them to others. There was a … <\/p>\n