The bloc of senators National Party submitted a formal request to the leader of Town meeting, Guido Manini Riosto present in detail the figure that will imply the increase requested by the lobbyists for the Armed forces in the bill of Accountability.
The request was made by the president of the Budget and Treasury Committee of the upper house, the nationalist Rodrigo Blas, with the objective of being able to frame the discussion of the requirement indicated by Cabildo Abierto among the ranks of the Multicolored Coalition. This is due to the fact that, although in Deputies, those led by Manini Ríos had put on the table a global figure of 500 million pesos —contemplating both the budget increase for the Military hospital as the one destined to the salaries of the soldiers—; the senator Jorge Gandini carried out a survey of the additives presented that resulted in a total of 720 million pesos.
For the negotiation to move forward —an issue indicated as fundamental by the lobbyists to grant their support to the last budget message with increased spending in the administration headed by the president Luis Lacalle Pou—, Manini Ríos must present certainties regarding the real increase that a positive response to their claims will imply.
Likewise, from the nationalist ranks they clarify that none of these issues will necessarily determine whether the demands of their coalition partners are met. In this sense, they point out that it was clear that the “agreement” reached between the former head of the Army and current senator, and the secretary of the Chair, Alvaro Delgado —which allowed the approval of the project in Deputies in exchange for dealing with the lobbying demands in the debate in the Senate—, it only commits to that: to deal with the articles, but not to approve them in a mandatory manner in the Upper House.
The defense of Arbeleche to the Accountability
The Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF), Azucena Arbeleche, presented the Accountability project before the Committee on Budget and Finance of the Senate,where he defended the allocation of resources for the last year of government of the Lacalle Pou, amid criticism from the opposition and with various controversies along the way.
Accompanied by her team and by the president of the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), Diego Labat, Arbeleche ratified that the inflation will continue within the target range for the next 24 months and projected growth in economic activity in the order of 1.3% for 2023, arguing about the text already approved in Deputies.
The minister pointed out in the Parliament that this lower expected inflation, together with lower taxes, “helps to have a greater purchasing power on the part of workers, pensioners and retirees.” And he stressed that “it is the focus that we have had from the economic policy to take care of the purchasing power of citizens.”
During her speech, the chief valued that there is “an economy growing in line with estimates.” Specifically, he highlighted “a growth of 4.9%, a labor market with a strong recovery with 40,000 jobs created and a recovery of the actual salary which starts at the end of last year.
Looking ahead to what is to come, Arbeleche referred to the “strong drought history that went through the entire country” and for this reason he projected “an economic growth of around 1.3%”. In addition, regarding employment, he estimated a rise in the actual salary and a generation older employment. “As of June of this year, if compared to the pre-pandemic, we have 16,000 more jobs,” he said.
Regarding the possible reassignment of resources to the Armed Forces, as a result of the claims of Town meeting, The head of the MEF emphasized that they will be analyzed as a whole, but she disassociated herself from the matter, noting that the definition is now in the hands of the pro-government senators.
Source: Ambito
