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San Salvador - President
Elect of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes and his
transition team will finish today a meeting
with international financial institutions
when it is confirmed the new administration
will receive its coffers diminished.
In the
closed-door meeting participate officials
and specialists of the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Interamerican Development Bank.
Before starting talks, Funes confirmed to
reporters his administration which takes
over on June 1, will be compelled to adjust
the 2009 budget, having in mind the data
provided by the outgoing Executive, in
particular, the Finance Ministry.
Approved by outgoing President Antonio Saca,
the 2009 general budget included expenses
for 3.6 billion dollars, under goals
supposedly higher of economic growth, but
"there is need to adjust a series of
strategies based on false assumptions," said
Funes.
Since the end of 2008, the effects of the
crisis began to be felt and since then, he
added, there should have been "a preventive
attitude that the economy was going to fall
and the tax revenue was not what had been
expected."
From those erroneous projections, the Gross
Domestic Product in 2009 would grow by four
percent. However, the last official figures
point to a 0.5 percent and institutions like
the IMF expect zero or negative growth.
Due to the drop in the economy, the fiscal
revenue fell by 13.8 percent at the closing
of February, 2009, indicated the Central
Bank and in recent statements, Funes alerted
he will receive the presidency with a fiscal
deficit near the 500 million-dollar mark.
Nevertheless, he denied that adjustments
will sacrifice first of all the social
programs. |
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