The government and the opposition have finally reached an agreement and approved the Fiscal Responsibility Law along with the issuance of $550 million in debt securities.
The issuance authorized by the Assembly may be made on the international or local market, and funds will be used to pay principal and interest on short-term debt, budget support and strengthening of the Fiscal Fund at the General Treasury of the Republic.
The government and the opposition have agreed to approve in the first instance an issue of $550 million, not $1.2 billion as claimed by the administration of Sanchez Ceren.
Although the government insists that there is a need is to issue $1.2 billion to cover short - term debts and solve the liquidity problem it is facing, this first agreement to issue $550 million will serve to"... pay for the electricity subsidy for FODES and the mayoral districts."
A state of emergency has been declared and pressure has been put on the Assembly to approve borrowing in the order of $1.2 billion to honor short-term debts.
President Sanchez Ceren announced as a first step a declaratory emergency, so that before the close of 2016 they can 'attend to, discuss and build the best agreements that will provide the relevant results' on issues such as approval of bonds for $1.2 billion.With that amount the government hopes to deal with the illiquidity and respond to the state's short - term commitments.
The government has already reached 72% of the maximum amount of issuance of Treasury Bills that is permitted by law, and it only has $370 million available to borrow this year.
Given the critical fiscal situation, the Sanchez Ceren administration is insisting in the Legislature on the approval of a bill to issue another $1.2 billion in debt.According to the government, several commitments can not meet unless these funds are available.For the remainder of the year the only remaining possibility is the issuance of $370 million in short-term debt in the local market.
The inability to carry out the issuance of $900 million further limits the possibilities of solving the fiscal problem affecting the country.
The Sanchez Ceren administration had intended to use the proceeds to refinance debt, pay pensions of officials and allocate funds to the Ministry of Education, according to the explanation given by the authorities at the Ministry of Finance.
The government looks like it will be unable to cope with its obligations in the second half of the year, because "there is no money to make it to the end of the year."
Figures from the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic Development (Fusades) indicate that the current balance of government debt (Treasury bills) now exceeds $900 million, and to meet its obligations in the second half of the year $500 million more is needed, which will have also have to be borrowed.