The head of state, Luis Abinades, announced during his speech of responsibility that 2020 ended with a fiscal deficit equivalent to 7.4% of GDP, instead of 9.4% budgeted.
Which means, as he explained, a reduction in the expected deficit of 77 billion pesos.
He indicated that the reduction was possible due to the efficient management of the collections and the economic recovery in the last quarter of 2020.
As well as strict control of public spending on anything “is not a priority or does not lead to the well-being of Dominicans.”
“We do much more with less,” said Abinader, while detailing that spending on foreign services has been reduced by 2.6 billion pesos, those of international tourism promotion, by 820 million only in contracts inherited from 2020.
On the other hand, he expressed that the commitment to more effective advertising campaigns and the Program for Essential Medicines and the Central de Apoyo Logístico (Promesecal) had savings of over 500 million, despite the fact that it purchased a larger amount of medicines that allowed him to increase the distribution through the village pharmacies.
Bonuses, allowances, representations, bonuses and bonuses were also reduced, according to the president, by 46.8%, equivalent to 541 million 400 thousand pesos, compared to the same period, but with the previous year.
As for the Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves, it said they had reached more than $ 12.5 billion as of January 31, almost double the July 31 figure.
“These reserves are the largest in history, obtained even in the midst of a pandemic and are a guarantee of exchange rate stability and trade security,” he argued.
Abinader also announced that two public companies, Refidomsa and Banreservas, have significantly improved their economic results since August 2020.
“In the case of Refidomsa, it went from projected losses in August to December of over 26 million dollars to gains of over 2 million. In the case of Banreservas, the net profits from December 2020 increased by 12.4 compared to 2019, this represents an increase of 1,151 million pesos more “, he explained.
With these results, he said that they managed to increase the articles for health by 15 billion pesos, for education by 10 billion, drinking water by 3.2 billion, security of citizens by 2.8 billion, social protection by 100 billion pesos and housing in 4,600.
House plans
With the increase in the budget for the housing area, Abinader explained that they will be able to start the plans for “My House” and continue with “Dominicana Se Reconstruye”.
Abinader also highlighted the efforts through public-private partnerships which, he said, also promote the sector, as is the case with the Happy Family Housing Project.
“These plans involve the construction of 11,000 new homes for Happy Family and more than 30,000 that we are already running this year, as well as the construction of nearly 4,000 new homes in various locations across the Dominican Republic,” he said. he.
The head of state stressed that, in a single year, they will build more than 10% of everything that the National Housing Institute (INVI) has built in its almost 60 years and more than what has been built accumulated in the last 13 years.
“The greatest respect that can be had for citizens is the control that their leaders have over their money,” he said.