……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of June 3, 2020
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approved the draft deliberation, presented by The Minister of Finance, Fernando Hanjam, which sets the amount of the temporary budget allocation for the month of June 2020 at 122.3 million U.S. dollars (including the payment of loans). Among other expenses, this amount includes US$3.3 million for the payment of Nakroma II and seven million dollars to ensure the payment of the extraordinary allowance, of 60% of the remuneration, under the employment support measure.
The Government also approved the draft law, presented by the Minister of Finance, on the authorization for an extraordinary transfer from the Petroleum Fund and also the first amendment to Law No. 2/2020 of April 6, which created the COVID-19 Fund. Considering that revenue from tax revenue and the balance of the previous year’s budget implementation, supplemented by the extraordinary transfer of the Petroleum Fund, authorized by Law No. 2/2020 of 6 April, are insufficient to finance the regular activity of the Public Administration beyond August and that the amount allocated to the budget of the COVID-19 Fund does not cover all the expenditure foreseen with the prevention and control measures of the COVID-19 pandemic, this law aims to authorize an extraordinary transfer of the Petroleum Fund to the General State Budget, in the amount of US$286,800,000, to ensure sufficient financial conditions for the normal functioning of the Public Administration until the approval of the General State Budget of 2020.
The Draft Law also includes the first amendment to Law No. 2/2020 of April 6, which authorised an extraordinary transfer of the Petroleum Fund in the financial year 2020 and which created the COVID-19 Fund, so as to clarify that among the purposes of the Fund is also the financing of economic support and social protection measures in response to the economic consequences of the measures taken to prevent and combat COVID-19 and the global economic crisis caused by the pandemic, as well as the operating costs of the Fund itself.
The Council of Ministers approved the Draft Law, also presented by the Minister of Finance, for the first amendment to Law No.14/2009 of October 21, on the Remuneration Status of Holders of Political Positions. With this amendment, The Deputy Ministers or Secretaries of State who replace their Ministers in the performance of their duties for a period of more than three months, should receive the remuneration corresponding to the post of Minister from the beginning of the performance of their duties under substitution and until its end. This diploma takes effect from the date of the swearing-in of the VIII Constitutional Government. ENDS