PM Briceño Introduces 2024 Budget

This morning, during a sitting of the House of Representatives that succeeded a landslide victory at the polls in the recent municipal elections, the Briceño administration presented the 2024 budget.  It’s another billion dollar financial plan that is expected to be implemented as of April first, the start of the new fiscal year.  Prime Minister John Briceño broke down the budget into recurrent expenditures, including government’s massive wage bill, goods and service, as well as debt servicing.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“A total of $1.604 billion is proposed.  Of this sum, approximately $1.1 billion will be recurrent spending covering wages, pensions, goods and services and transfers and debt service interest costs.  In addition to recurrent costs, $430.7 million is programmed for capital investments during the new fiscal year of which some one hundred and forty-six million dollars or so-called Capital 3 funding drawn down from the various loans and grants already approved.  One hundred and thirty million dollars is the amount projected for amortization payments.  That is the repayment of principals on loans already contracted.  The primary surplus is projected at $30.6 or 0.46% of GDP, while the overall deficit is projected at $85.842 million or 1.3% of GDP.  Let me put this into perspective for all of us to understand the purpose of each dollar government spends.  Thirty cents of every dollar will be for the wages of public officers.  Seven cents of every dollar for public officers’ pensions.  Eighteen cents of every dollar for operational costs to government, such as utilities and transportation.  Seven cents for interest on loans and the remaining twenty-seven cents for capital expenditures which includes the funding of all projects and programs undertaken by government.”