EN 
ES Rijo Presbot highlights good performance in budget execution for 2023 and reiterates that the Government maintains savings and control of spending
The Director General of the Budget, José Rijo Presbot, announced that work is already underway on the 2024 budget policy and the transformation of the SIGEF (General State Budget System). He highlighted that this year's budget execution has progressed in accordance with the estimates in the General State Budget and praised the planning involved in formulating the document to allocate funds to institutions. "The 2023 budget execution is going very well, because in terms of revenues, compared to the estimate, we have 99.61% execution; regarding capital expenditures, we have 871% execution compared to the budget for the period; while current expenditures are at 841%," Rijo Presbot stated. Similarly, he stated that capital expenditures have been executed more than planned and reiterated that, as a cost-saving and control measure, certain expenses remain restricted, such as those related to furniture and real estate. According to the Budget Director, these represent only 11.3 trillion pesos of total expenditures, and of the 26 billion pesos budgeted, only about 6 billion pesos have been spent. Rijo added that the same control is maintained in the purchase of materials and supplies, of which only 16 billion pesos have been spent out of a budget of 63 million pesos, representing 31.3 trillion pesos of total expenditures and an execution rate of 271.3 trillion pesos. He further indicated that the revised budget will only require adjustments based on the goals and performance of the institutions. He also asserted that the construction sector is the area with the greatest demand for the revised budget. The Budget Director reiterated that from day one, President Luis Abinader's administration has established sufficient controls to prevent the diversion of resources to expenditures not aligned with tangible targets. He highlighted the collaborative effort between the Budget Directorate (Digepres), the Procurement and Contracting Office, the Comptroller's Office, the Treasury, and the Government Accounting Directorate to ensure that no official engages in outdated illegal practices. He recalled that previously, expenditures not included in the budget were executed, and because they lacked appropriation certification, they were carried over to the following year as a reduction in accounts payable or administrative debt. "That is no longer possible," Rijo Presbot emphasized, "because the control stems from the General State Budget Law itself, which includes an article stipulating that any official who executes expenditures outside the budget and generates administrative debt will have to pay it with their own personal assets." A New SIGEF: Digepres Project. The Director General of the Budget announced that a project is underway to implement significant changes to the Financial Management System (SIGEF) in order to improve budget formulation and increase transparency regarding the goods and services that each institution provides to citizens. “We have defined this project as a Multi-Year Results-Oriented Budget with a Dynamic Approach, which is an improvement to SIGEF, a transformation of the conceptual, functional, programmatic, and geographical aspects of the General State Budget,” he noted. The project has the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and, according to Rijo, among other major advantages, will allow for greater unification of planning with the budget. In an interview on the morning show Uno + Uno, alongside journalists Milizen Uribe and Stalin Montero, Rijo announced that they are already working on the 2024 budget. “In fact, no later than June 30, the Ministry of Finance, headed by Minister Jochi Vicente, will deliver the budget policy for next year to the president, so that the Council of Ministers can discuss and approve it no later than July 9,” stated the Budget Director. The General Directorate of Budget, through its institutional website Digepres.gob.do, provides the public with the Budget Calendar, a tool that allows users to track each stage of the General State Budget cycle. Additionally, every Tuesday, it publishes the Budget Execution Report on its social media accounts, @DigepresRD, to provide insight into how the central government manages public resources.
Budget Director holds Citizen Meeting with editors and journalists in the economic field
The activity took place during a public finance course coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, aimed at media representatives and focused on basic economic and budgetary concepts. The Director General of the Budget, José Rijo Presbot, held a public forum as part of the second Public Finance course for journalists and communicators specializing in economics, organized by the Ministry of Finance. The training session addressed basic principles, concepts, and the structure of the national budget. During his presentation, Rijo Presbot praised the forum because it allows editors and economic journalists to learn more about the social and economic interactions, execution, and planning of the General State Budget (PGE). In his presentation, Rijo Presbot explained that the essential function of the State is the effective protection of individual rights and that the budget seeks to fulfill this mandate. "The budget is structured under principles of justice and equality, seeking to cover the basic needs of the population and the development of the territories," he stated. He also explained the legal aspects of the budget and discussed the changes implemented to address the old administrative debt. “No official can make expenditures that are not properly documented; that is, they cannot execute any expenditure without the appropriation certification,” the Budget Director emphasized. Rijo Presbot presented to journalists the General State Budget's (PGE) aspects and its connection to the 2030 National Development Strategy, intervention areas, interaction with economic and social factors, the budget's redistributive effect, internal controls, and the budget formulation schedule. Citizen Meetings and Training Sessions: It is worth noting that the General Budget Directorate holds Citizen Meetings to reaffirm its commitment to transparency, closeness to the public, and to guarantee, for the first time under the government, social participation in the formulation of the General State Budget. The event was held in the meeting room of the Ministry of Finance.
