Day: July 12, 2024

Rijo Presbot: “The Government is working to make public spending more efficient

The Director General of the Budget Office received a visit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, which aimed to address crucial issues related to the country's economic performance. The Directorate General of the Budget Office welcomed Pamela Madrid, a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visiting the Dominican Republic to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss crucial issues related to the country's economic performance, reforms, challenges, and financial future. During the meeting with the IMF representative, the Director General of the Budget Office, José Rijo Presbot, was accompanied by Odilys Hidalgo, Director of Budget Services; Griselda Gomez, Director of Quality and Evaluation of Public Spending; Rafael Jovine, Director of Economic Studies and Financial Monitoring; and Ana Miguelina Terrero, Head of Budget Performance Evaluation. María Victoria Ortiz, head of the Standards and Methodologies Department, and Juan Portalatín, head of the Financial Management Department for Formulation and Execution of the Directorate of Economic Studies and Financial Monitoring, were present. The welcoming remarks were delivered by the Budget Director, who, in addressing the topics, emphasized the Dominican Government's commitment to sound economic management, rationalizing spending, and the proper execution of public resources to improve people's quality of life. According to data provided by the Budget Director, “The Government is committed to improving spending. This is the first time in the last five election years that a primary fiscal surplus has been recorded, even amidst the political campaigning surrounding the recent municipal, congressional, and presidential elections. The deficit remained below 0.5% of GDP for five months,” Rijo Presbot stated in his address. He also said that this is an indicator of the Government's effort to avoid the historical practice of allocating the Budget for political and electoral purposes. The director of Digepres stated that the administration, led by President Luis Abinader, is making an effort to adjust non-priority spending. He also reiterated the commitment to improving management culture, segmenting the country to streamline spending, and aligning the planning and budget to ensure that physical and financial targets are met. The visit of Pamela Madrid, representative of the IMF, is in accordance with Article IV of its Articles of Agreement, under which the IMF holds bilateral discussions with its members annually to gather economic and financial information and analyze the nation's progress and economic policies with the authorities. Rafael Jovine, director of Economic Studies and Financial Monitoring, presented a comprehensive report to the IMF representative, detailing topics related to investment processes, expenditures, tax reform, budget formulation, public administration restructuring, public spending efficiency, and other issues concerning health, labor, education, infrastructure, trusts, budget formulation, police reform, social security, gender, and climate change, among other subjects. It is also worth highlighting that, during the presentation on climate change, Ana Miguelina Terrero, Head of Budget Performance Evaluation, and Griselda Gomez, Director of Quality and Evaluation of Public Spending, emphasized information on the actions, unified efforts, and transformations that the Budget Office, in conjunction with other government institutions, has been developing on this issue. Regarding budget transparency, Rafael Jovine, who led the presentation, spoke about the reforms and budget transparency implemented by the General Directorate of Budgets (Digepres). “The level of transparency at the Budget Office is evident in the weekly Budget Execution report, published without fail every Tuesday on the Digepres website. With careful analysis, one can access even the smallest record of government spending,” Jovine stated. Following the explanations provided by the Budget Office staff, Pamela Madrid of the IMF thanked Digepres for their hospitality, expressing the Fund's interest in monitoring the country's economic processes and its willingness to provide technical support in financial training for Budget Office personnel. The meeting with the IMF representative took place in the Budget Office room.