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Lusa - Business News - Sao Tome: Parliament approves 2023 state budget
São Tomé,May.26,2023(Lusa)-The parliament of São Tomé and Príncipe on Friday approved at committee stage and final vote the state budget2023 and the major planning options, with votes in favour of the parties that support the government and against by the largest opposition party. The documents had 29 votes in favour from Independent Democratic Action (ADI, party of Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada) and five from the coalition Movement of Independent Citizens - Socialist and National Unity Party (MCI-PSD/PUN, known as 'movement' of Caué), the votes against the Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP/PSD, of former Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus) and the abstention of the two MPs from Basta. The state budget is estimated at 3.775 billion dobras, or around 154 million euros, and provides for growth of 2%, "based on a recovery of the agricultural and fishing sector, an increase in the industrial sector, and boosting the services sector. According to the prime minister, of the total value of the public investment programme included in the state budget 2023, "11.7% will be ensured through internal resources" and "88.3% through external resources". "We voted in favour of this budget because we believe that everything that is contained in the budget and the major planning options really meets the needs of the people. We hope that within six months the government can implement these measures for the benefit of the people, because the country needs to move forward," said the spokesperson for the MCI-PSD/PUN coalition, Leonardo João. The parliamentary leader of Independent Democratic Action, José António Miguel, reaffirmed that the document approved today is the "possible, realistic budget that in fact reflects the situation of the country at this time". The MLSTP/PSD, through its spokesperson, Raúl Cardoso, said that one cannot "in conscience, vote for this budget that will increase hunger, misery, austerity". "Unfortunately this is a budget not always aligned with the major plan options, a budget that attacks the middle class of this country, this class is the one that provides employment and ensures daily bread to many vulnerable families, a budget that also attacks the most vulnerable people," said Raúl Cardoso. The MLSTP/PSD MP also lamented that "the tax on basic basket products will increase", from 5% applied before with the consumption tax to 7.5% with the Value Added Tax (VAT), which comes into force from 1 June. "The opposition voted against, I think this is in line with their attitudes, but it doesn't matter, they did their role and we will now, with a comfortable majority, execute the budget," prime minister Patrice Trovoada reacted in statements to journalists at the end of the plenary session. Trovoada stressed that "the challenges do not cease to exist" and that the numbers provided for in the state budget "have to correspond in fact to the collection of revenues, disbursements" by the partners and also the technical capacity of execution by the civil service. For this, he said that in the next few days he will hold a meeting at the level of public companies and "a large meeting on public administration" to "mobilise people" so that performance allows for "an optimal realisation of this budget by the end of the year," and noted that the 2024 budget would be presented in October. "We have been careful to inscribe projects that already have funding or at least the part of the funding that allows for the implementation of the six months. In this aspect we are relatively comfortable, the big challenge is the bureaucracy, the procedures, the tenders, because on the part of the partners things are more or less assured," said the prime minister. In addition the head of the Sao Tomean government said he is negotiating some projects that, he said, were launched by the previous government without sources of funding, namely the Caué High School, in southern Sao Tome, and some roads, which were included in the 2023 state budget. "We have fallen so low that I think everything that is going to be done will be seen positively. The country has hit rock bottom, now we have a budget, we have been in government for six months, some situations are being overcome, I think that now we just need to move up as quickly as possible so that people can also feel more encouraged and, above all, see their difficulties gradually decrease," said Patrice Trovoada. With the approval in the committee stage and overall final, the São Toméan state budget will be sent for promulgation by the president of the country, Carlos Vila Nova. JYAF/AYLS // AYLS Lusa Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-05-27 04:01:00
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