National Parliament approved the 2021 General State Budget
On December 12th, 2020, the 2021 General State Budget (GSB), with a total amount of US$ 1.895 billion, was approved in the National Parliament, with 44 votes in favour, and without votes against nor abstentions.
The Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, said, in his speech at the presentation of the Law Proposal, that this General State Budget “was developed in response to the unprecedented challenges that our Nation faced in 2020” and that his “Government formulated this budget to revitalize our economy, protect and invest in our People, and to provide our young people with the opportunities to enter into society in order to achieve their dreams. "
The General State Budget for 2021 presents a series of methodological changes that aim to bring the budget closer to the best international budgetary practices, improving the conceptual quality of the General State Budget, harmonizing the presentation of information and increasing its transparency. The expenses of the General State Budget are now presented and specified by programs, in addition to the already used organic and economic classifications.
In his last speech, at the close of the 2021 GSB’s discussion, the Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction on the approval of this Budget and thanked "the collaboration of the Members of the National Parliament, during the GSB debate, starting from the overall discussion, and until the final global vote". The Head of Government also considered that this Budget "will start a new cycle towards the normalization of the annual budget cycle and, simultaneously, towards the recovery of the economy, which fell due to the effects of COVID-19 and the duodecimal regime".
