Atacama with 6.778 million pesos less, Tarapacá (6.685) and Los Ríos (6.512) were the regions most affected by the budget reduction.
Further back, with less cut, are located Valparaíso with 6.266 million pesos, Arica and Parinacota (5.966), Maule (5.763), Ñuble (5.725), Antofagasta (5.707) and Bío Bío (5.344).
The Ministry of Finance speaks of “Reassignment” and not of cutting resources, which, according to the national director of the Directorate of Budgets (Dipres), Matías Acevedowas done in the context of the pandemic and the criterion applied was to subtract regional governments with slower budget execution.
He also pointed out that, despite the reduction of amounts in the aforementioned regions, no project, upon request, would be left without financing between now and the end of the year.
Letter to Briones
The president of the National Association of Regional Councilors (Ancore), Marcelo carrascoHe assured that they sent a letter to Ignacio Briones to accuse the injustice.
“They put their hand in the pocket of the regions”said the regional councilor of La Araucanía.
“It is not possible for the national government to do that and for the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to become a court of the inquisition for regional governments,” he explained.
“Cutting resources to the organizations closest to the people in a pandemic, the local governments, seems to us to be an attack on democracy. This is not the time to cut resources behind the backs of the regions “, he claimed.
To the above, Carrasco demanded that regional parliamentarians take more powerful actions in their relationship with the Government and demand that it enter Congress a bill for financing regional governments, which gives it autonomy and no more dependence on the Central Government.
“Today we see how that dependence leaves us with folded arms “added the Ancore leader.
The regions
Three regions “They hit the table” so far because of the budget cut.
In Concepción, it was the Private Development Corporation of the Bío Bío Region, Corbiobío, in a session of its recently created Fiscal Observatory, who set off the alarms, together with the presidents of the regionalist banks of the Upper House, Senator Alejandro Guillier, and of the Lower House, deputy Rodrigo González.
“They cut the budget to nine regions and to Bio Bío in 5,300 million pesos. The Ministry of Finance has to explain this situation, why it does that to the regions, ”said Andrés Cruz, director of Corbiobío.
MP PPD, Rodrigo Gonzalez, together with his peer PS, the deputy Gaston Saavedra, who was also present in the virtual session, took the post and raised the need for the Minister of Finance to be required to formally explain the reasons for this cut to Congress.
We will ask for a special session to clarify the reasons and intentions for all budget cuts in all regions of the country.
– Rodrigo González, PPD deputy
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What’s more, González went further and made official that he will enter an interpellation against Ignacio Briones, to clarify.
“I don’t want to think that these decisions could be linked to the plebiscite and that it could be affected with a decrease in participation, or even its realization. Thus, we will request a special session to clarify the reasons and intentions of all budget cuts in all regions of the country, ”said González.
While, Rodrigo Daroch, national vice president of the PPD, indicated that “once again the region is disrespected, the regions cannot finance the decisions of centralism, Chile today has resources, it has financial formulas to cover social spending or reactivation, here the mayor must raise his voice, the National Fund for Regional Development (FNDR) is the main financial partner ”.
From Los Ríos and Valparaíso
The Regional Council of Los Ríos formalized a tough response to the cut announced by the Central Government.
“We express our surprise and outrage at the decision made by the Ministry of Finance, taking into account the context that exists at the national level, decreeing this important cut in the regional budgetary framework, “says the letter signed by the Regional Council of Los Ríos.
Meanwhile, since Valparaiso also came the claim by the Regional Council.
The regional councilor of the Broad Front, Tania Valenzuela, classified this event as serious and indicated that it had never happened in the Regional Government.
In that sense, in any case, he declared responsibility in the mayor Jorge Martínez.
“Reallocate resources”
The national director of Dipres, Matías Acevedo, justified the budgetary action and specified that after the social outbreak in October, in the first quarter of this year, the regions were distributed 61 billion pesos over the budget assigned for 2020, for which they obtained an increase.
In that sense, what has been done now, for Acevedo, is not a “cutout”.
“What is being done here is basically reallocate resources that they will not be able to be executed during the year and will basically be used for other emergencies, in other areas, where they will be able to spend these resources, “said Acevedo.
He added that “when one assigns a hundred to a region, and when you see, seven months after its budget execution does not exceed 40%It is evident that an important part of those resources will not be able to be executed ”.
Also, the national budget chief emphasized that regions such as Arica and Bío Bío, despite the reduction in the amount that took place, were left with more money than assigned in the Budget Law of 2020, whose processing was in October and November 2019.
As long as the decisions that affect the regions are taken in Santiago, as long as there is no DecentralizationThey are going to continue “putting their hand in the pocket of the rest of the country”, as if outside the RM there is no decision, nor capabilities, while Santiago grows and progresses with giant steps.
Read the decree here:
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