Execution of the 2021 General State Budget reaches 22%
The actual execution rate of the State General Budget for the year 2021 (GSB) - Excluding commitments and obligations, up to 25 May 2021, was 22%, despite the fact that Timor-Leste is going through an outbreak of COVID-19, which requires the imposition of sanitary fences and compulsory confinement.
The execution in the whole Government reached USD$ 446 million, equivalent to 22% of the 2021 GSB, whose total value, with the amending budget, rose from USD$ 1,895 million to USD$ 2.1 billion.
The highest rate of budget execution is in the category of public transfers, at 36%, followed by the category of salaries and wages, with an execution percentage of 35%, goods and services are at 14%, the category of capital development is at 5%, and the lowest rate of budget execution at the moment, with a percentage of 1%, is in the category of minor capital.
According to the projections, budget execution will continue to rise in the third and fourth quarters, since this is traditionally the period when the physical execution of projects begins. Up until May 7th, 2021, the Ministry of Finance (MF), through the National Procurement Commission (NPC), launched procurement tenders for 107 projects, for a total amount of USD$ 565.4 million. Most of the procurement processes for these projects have already started and some are already being concluded, which means that, according to the timetable, they will be completed by the end of this year.
The sources of financing for these 107 projects are threefold: (i) the Infrastructure Fund, with an amount of USD$ 328.3 million, (ii) Non-infrastructure funds, with an amount of USD$ 21.1 million and (iii) Loans from the International Agencies ADB and JICA, with an amount of USD$ 216 million.
In addition, the Special Fund for COVID-19, which was created last year to respond to this pandemic, to date has an execution rate of 11%. And the activities of this Fund suffered implications with the changes in the allocation of the COVID-19 Fund, whose initial amount was USD$ 31 million, and which was reinforced with USD$ 256,641,793.00, so that the Fund now has a total amount of USD$ 287,641,793.00 (two hundred and eighty-seven million, six hundred and forty-one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-three dollars).
As of May 18th, the Ministry of Finance has made payments totalling USD$ 26.7 million to 106 companies supplying of the Basic Basket. So far, the distribution of the Basic Food Basket has reached 90%, with around one million and 100 thousand people having already received this support.
During the implementation of the Sanitary Fence and the Compulsory Confinement, the salaries and wages of civil servants for the months of March, April and May were paid on time - transferred to each employee's bank account before the 20th of each month.
The real execution rate for the first quarter of 2021 was 17%. This budget execution figure was the second highest since 2012, with a total execution value of around USD $316 million. The highest actual first quarter execution rate since the year 2012 was in 2017, at 18%.
In the year 2021, the Ministry of Finance has already made withdrawals from the Petroleum Fund, from the Central Bank of Timor-Leste, in a total amount of USD$ 350 million. The first withdrawal was in February, with an amount of USD$ 200 million, and the second withdrawal, with an amount of USD$ 150, was made in April.
