National Parliament approves GSB 2023
The draft 2023 General State Budget (GSB) was approved by the National Parliament, on November 17th, 2022, with 42 votes in favour, 2 abstentions, and 41 votes against.
This draft 2023 GSB, worth US$ 3.16 billion, has as its motto Productive Investment and Inclusive Growth for future generations. Of the total global expenditure, US$ 2.8 billion is allocated to the Central Administration Budget, which includes US$ one billion for the National Liberation Combatants Fund. The Social Security Budget has allocated a total of US$ 235.7 million and the RAEOA, a total of US$ 120 million.
Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, at the opening of the overall debate, stated that the 2023 General State Budget is intended to "primarily respond to two challenges that Timor-Leste continues to face: fighting poverty and child malnutrition and improving food security, to overcome child underdevelopment, increase the nutritional quality of the food consumed and boost the development of a healthy and active society, with well-fed children, prosperous families and strong populations, where the dissemination of good practices on nutrition and food security is accessible to the entire population". To achieve these goals, "the Government allocates an appropriation of US$ 80.5 million in the General State Budget for activities directly or indirectly related to nutrition and food security".
The draft 2023 General State Budget allocates US$ 772 million to the social capital sector, which includes health, education and social protection, meaning that this sector is the largest beneficiary of funding, reflecting the importance given to universal access to education (US$ 137 million), health (US$ 92 million) and social protection (US$ 301 million), especially for vulnerable segments of society.
In particular, the Government plans to apply US$ 19.2 million to implement the Bolsa da Mãe (Mother’s Allowance) programme. Of this amount, US$ 5.3 million will be used to expand the continuity of the initial programme and US$ 13.7 million will be used to expand the Bolsa da Mãe - Jerasaun Foun (Mother’s Allowance – New Generation) measure, which aims to support pregnant women and improve health and nutrition during the first years of childhood, as well as support children with chronic illness or disability.
The Bill also provides an allocation of US$ 22.4 million for the expansion of the School Meals programme, improving the quality of meals to meet the nutritional needs of children, and increasing the spending per child per meal from US$ 25 cents to 42 cents.
