The fire of the Legislative Palace and the capture of more than 30 people, is the balance of the violent demonstrations that took place on November 21 in the capital of the country, after a discontent was generated due to the approval of the National Budget 2021.
During the early morning of November 18, the Congress of the Republic approved the Income and Expenditure Budget of the State, which amounted to approximately $12,815 million.
With the deadline for Congress to approve the 2020 public budget expiring, the Guatemalan government must work with the 2019 budget, so some investments in public infrastructure could come to a halt in the first months of the year.
Last November 30, the deadline for the Congress of the Republic to approve the draft budget of income and expenditures of the nation for 2020, which amounted to Q91.9 billion ($11.9 billion) and was not endorsed by most deputies.
The government of Guatemala plans to allocate $1 billion from the 2018 budget for public infrastructure projects, of which $626 million will go towards highway works.
Agn.com.gt reports that"...The Central Government is projected to execute $686 million in infrastructure works, and the Departmental Development Councils (Codedes) $312 million."
The Morales administration plans to increase indebtedness next year, but with the objective of generating a "shock" of growth in investment in public infrastructure.
In the 2018 budget, the Ministry of Finance plans to increase indebtedness and consequently the fiscal deficit, but with the purpose of increasing investment in road infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. In the 2018 draft budget, the debt ceiling could reach $11.9 billion.
In the budget approved by Congress, $530 million has been allocated to the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing.
From a statement issued by the Congress of Guatemala:
On Tuesday the Congress approved, with 115 votes, Decree 50-2016, which contains the Revenue and Expenditure Budget of the Nation for Fiscal Year 2017, amounting to almost $10 billion (309 million 451 thousand Q77 mil), although the Commission of Public Finance and Currency had decided Q76.9 million based on the proposal submitted by the Executive Agency.
The budget proposed by the Morales administration for 2017 includes $736 million to develop 2,500 public infrastructure projects.
Water and sanitation works, road construction and renovation, and rehabilitation of prisons and hospitals are some of the projects included in the budget submitted by the Executive for 2017.
The 2017 budget drawn up by the government of Costa Rica is the result of an arithmetic exercise, where the political will of the Solis administration has barely reduced maintenance and has increased privileges in the dominant state corporations.
EDITORIAL
Scandalous could be the best word to describe the magnitude of the increase of 12% which the Solis Rivera administration has made in the 2017 public budget.The 12% increase not only far exceeds the projected inflation for this year, but is disproportionate and far from reality, considering the serious and urgent fiscal problem facing the country.
The amount of public investment to be made in 2017 has been estimated at $1.8 billion, equivalent to 19% of the total budget projected by the Executive Branch.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance:
The Ministry of Finance (Minfin) has presented the project for the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures for 2017,which amounts to Q79,830 million, which represents an increase of Q9,033.8 million compared to the amount approved in 2016.
The countries facing the greatest risk of fiscal unsustainability within three years are El Salvador and Honduras, followed by Costa Rica and with less risk, Nicaragua and Panama.
From the "EconomicOutlook"section of the V Report on the State of the Region 2016:
Nicaragua is the only country in the isthmus that was left out of the list of countries that meet the "minimum requirements" for fiscal transparency, according to the State Department.
The "Fiscal Transparency Report 2016" by the US State Department, includes Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador in the list of countries which meet the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency, which the State Department bases on the public availability of information on the state budget and government contracts and tenders for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, including methods of tendering and conditions for concessions.
A project to build prisons in Jutiapa, Guatemala, Santa Rosa and Escuintla is waiting for congressional approval and budget allocation.
The Ministry of Government in Guatemala has already completed the plans and the projects for the construction of four new prisons. The Planning Department reported that the sum needed is $64.6 million (about Q500 million) in order to start pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies and early construction work.
The new administration has announced that the placement will be in the local market and resources will finance the 2016 budget.
The Ministry of Finance (Minfin) has released the rules for the bond issue and financing needed to make up the shortfall in resources for the new Guatemalan government.
Julio Héctor Estrada, head of the branch, told Elperiodico.com.gt that "we will be turning to the local market next week.
The construction sector considers that the amounts allocated for road works in the 2016 public budget are lower than in 2015 and will not be enough to complete the works the road network needs.
Construction companies predict that public investment in 2016 will be lower than in 2015 and insufficient to provide the actual maintenance that the country's road infrastructure needs.
In the view of the private sector it does not make sense to pass a budget that contains vices of the past which encourage theft of public resources, nonexistent jobs, inefficient spending and corruption.
From a statement issued by the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF):
"... State overregulation has made business legality a privilege that can only be accessed with economic or political power. "
EDITORIAL
In these countries, poor since time immemorial, state bureaucrats whose regular salaries allow them to live in a first world fantasy land have as their primary concern checking that things are done as they should be, that is to say, as they are done in the first world.