Kurt Burneo, to Congress on the 2023 budget: “We must negotiate, but not sabotage each other”

Kurt BurneoMinister of Economy and Finance, expressed concern about the opinion on the bill State budget 2023 approved by the Congressional Budget Committee. The Plenum will begin discussion of this proposal on Monday, 28 November.

“I urge that during the discussions that will take place in Congress, in the next three days, they finally think and see that we must negotiate, and not sabotage each other,” he urged.

In an interview program end point, explained that while the budget amount proposed by the Executive has been retained, which is just over S/214 billion, the truth is that “additional contingencies” have been included; that is, an additional 164 million balances that will be used to raise wages, include workers in the payroll, and focus on various social programs.

“These extra costs were an absolute surprise, we didn’t know that,” he said.

Kurt Burneo pointed out that the problem was that the opinion established that the funding would come from Contingency reservewhose resources, as he indicated, are already allocated to emergency assistance (natural disasters), personnel are moving from CAS COVID to regular CAS, among other things.

“The commission’s proposal implies a clear imbalance in costs, which does not have the ability to finance itself as a counterparty,” he said.

“Sabotage is done not to the government, but to the country”

The Minister of State recalled that the Political Constitution states that “it is essential that the budget be properly balanced; i.e. income equals expenses. “He doesn’t allow for any possibility of a budget that doesn’t have these characteristics,” he remarked.

Nonetheless, Kurt Burneo He said they are doing a final executive review of the draft “to see to what extent we can meet some additional requirements that have important social content.” “But this will always be done while maintaining a balance between income and expenses,” he assured.

On the other hand, the Minister of Economy and Finance doubted that the aforementioned parliamentary commission had suspended a meeting that was scheduled to evaluate six government bills that are part of the Impulso Peru economic recovery plan.

“This is sabotage that they do not commit against the government, this is sabotage against the country. For example, we have had the return of the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund for almost three months now, and it is not being discussed in Congress,” he snapped.

“I appeal to congressmen thinking about what is happening and the detrimental consequences for the country. But at the moment when there is a revenge in the sense of not planning projects that imply the implementation of the reactivation plan, it is obvious that the country is being sabotaged. We are all in the same boat, and with this attitude there is little room for future maneuvers,” he said.

Actions to mitigate the international economic impact

Head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (IEF) further stated that he was taking preemptive measures to “prevent further deterioration of the Peruvian economy” due to the difficult international situation.

Kurt Burneo He explained that the Impulso Perú plan includes measures not only to encourage demand, but also on the supply side, so that it is cheaper for companies to produce products through credit programs targeted at small production units, which make up 97% of companies in the country.