Government of Timor-Leste

The Minister of Finance, Rui Gomes, accompanied by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication, Francisco Martins da Costa Pereira Jerónimo, and by the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Azevedo Marçal, presented, on the April 6^th, 2023, to the President of the National Parliament, Aniceto Longuinhos Guterres Lopes, the 2024 Major Plan Options (GOP – Portuguese acronym) Law proposal.

The 2024 GOP Law Proposal foresees an overall expenditure value for the Public Administrative Sector of US$ 1.7 billion. Social Security expenditure totals US$ 291.9 million. On the other hand, spending for RAEOA totals US$ 81.1 million. Thus, the total consolidated overall expenditure for the 2024 General State Budget proposal is US$ 2.07 billion - there is a 1% reduction compared to the total of the 2023 General State Budget.

This Law Proposal includes 124 main measures, both annual and multi-year measures, organised in 16 strategic areas, on which the Government will focus next year. However, compared to the 2023 GOP Law, in this 2024 GOP Law Proposal, the Government has significantly reduced from 275 to 124 main measures - there is a reduction of 151 measures or 45%. This has occurred because the Government has rationalised its planning.

The 16 strategic areas include National Connectivity; Education and Training; Health; Territorial Development and Housing; Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Economy and Employment; Petroleum and Minerals; Electricity and Renewable Energy; Social Inclusion and Protection; Water and Sanitation; Tourism; Environment; Culture and Heritage; State Reform; Defence and National Security; Foreign Policy and International Relations.

The 2024 GOP Law Proposal allows a direct link between the Planning process and the Budgeting process to facilitate the implementation of the program budgeting, thus fulfilling the 2011-2030 Strategic Development Plan, the Government Program, as well as the annual plans and medium-term plans of the Public Administrative Sector's Services and Entities, and also the Government's strategic documents and policies to be implemented in 2024, whose measures, in some cases, are already being implemented this year.

The 2024 GOP Law Proposal was presented at this moment due to the Parliamentary elections that will take place next month. As such, it may already be in force when the new Government is appointed, thus speeding up the process of preparing the 2024 General State Budget (GSB).

Then, following the Budget Framework Law, the National Parliament and the Government will discuss and approve the draft of this Law before submitting it to the President of the Republic for further consideration.

On April 5^th, 2023, the Council of Ministers met in the Government Palace and approved the 2024 Major Planning Options Law Proposal, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Gomes.

In the previous month, the Ministry of Finance had already held the Planning Days, in which the Members of Government and officials from 109 public entities discussed the budget scenario, the budget ceiling options for the year 2024, as well as an appraisal of the main measures to be included in the 2024 GOP Law Proposal.

The Minister of Finance, Rui Gomes, was also accompanied in this presentation by the Director General of Planning and Budget, José Alexandre de Carvalho, the National Director of Planning, Natércia Barreto, the National Director of Budget, Salomão Yaquim, and the Acting Chief of Staff of the Minister of Finance, Acácio Pinto.