He Ministry of Economy instructed the Provincial Development Trust Fund (FFDP) to sign a financial assistance agreement with the province of Salta, to refinance amounts owed up to $14,000 million with the agency.
The measure was formalized through resolution 804/2023 published today in the Official Gazette, and includes the debt that the province maintains with the FFDP as of June 30.from the agreements signed between the National State and the province between March 2020 and December 2022.
During this period, four agreements were signed within the framework of the Fiscal Convergence, Reprofiling Line, Provincial Financial Emergency and Financial Assistance to the Provinces programs.
This month the State signed a similar agreement with Tucumán, which reaches the total debt that the province has with the fund, for an amount of $22,432,060,777. As in the case of Tucumán, the debt will be repaid in 12 installments from the expiration of the grace period, with the first expiration scheduled for the last business day of January 2024.
The grace for the capital will be until December 31, and the interest will be payable monthly, with the first due date being the last business day of January of the following year. The applicable interest rate will be 0.10% annual nominal and the principal of the loan will be adjusted from the disbursement, according to the CER corresponding to the period elapsed between that date and the date of each maturity.
What are the commitments that Salta must make for this benefit?
Based on this new agreement, the province will provide the Treasury Secretariat of the Ministry of the National Economy with information to monitor its finances.
To ensure compliance with the agreement, it was determined that Salta will assign its rights to the sums to be received by the Coparticipation Regime until the total payment of the capital and interest owed.
In other words, in the case of non-payment, the National State is authorized to automatically withhold the necessary amounts of the funds destined for co-participation after ten days. The agreement will enter into force once it is approved at the level of the Provincial State.
In the recitals of the regulations, it is stated that “given the current social and economic situation” it is the State’s intention to collaborate with the provinces to ensure “access to essential basic goods and services for the entire population, as well as apply policies that sustain productive activities and raise the level of employment”.
For this, the provision affirms, “it is essential to take measures to sustain the finances of the jurisdictions that need it, to the extent of the possibilities of the National Government and as long as they do not present other sources of financing.”
The FFDP was created on February 27, 1995 and its purpose is, among other things, to assist and finance programs that contemplate the reorganization of the debts of the provincial States, their renegotiation and/or cancellation; or promote development.
In this case, as indicated in the recitals, Salta requested a “modification in the financial conditions of the debt contracted with the Fund” to “meet debt commitments and short-term obligations of the provincial treasury.”
Within this framework, the National Government evaluated that it is necessary to “continue contributing to the sustainability of provincial fiscal schemes.”
Source: Ambito
