On 18 June 2020, the President and the members of the Commission for the Preparation of the Economic Recovery Plan were sworn in by Prime Minister, Taur  Matan  Ruak, at a ceremony held in the Meeting Room of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The Commission is responsible for recommending to the Council of Ministers, within a maximum period of sixty days, the measures to be adopted and the actions to be taken for the recovery of the national economy, systematised and condensed into an Economic Recovery Plan.

The President of the Commission is the former Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes. Also sworn in by the Prime Minister, as members of the Commission, were Rui Maria de Araújo, Manuel Vong, Carlos da Silva Lopes  Saky  and Berta Montalvão.

Rui Augusto Gomes, in his speech after the signing of the term of office, began by greeting the Prime Minister “for the initiative of the economic and social recovery plan, so timely and necessary”.

The President of the Commission said that “this plan aims to propose to the Government instruments that can ensure that essential health services are available, help people deal with crises, protect jobs and incomes of people and businesses, in the face of the impact of the economic and social crisis caused by the COVID-19″.

He pointed out that “although in Timor-Leste the impact of the pandemic was limited”, there were no deaths from COVID-19 and the number of patients infected with the virus was relatively low, “the social and economic impact was significant (…) with job loss and falling incomes”.

Rui Gomes also explained that the Commission will have “the technical support of the Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, the Prime Minister’s Office, the contribution of the Ministry of Finance, other relevant Ministries and the Central Bank” and will also “consult the relevant Parliamentary Committees”. He added that “the involvement of professional institutions and citizens in the work of the Commission will be much wider”, with the involvement in the work of both “state institutions and the business community, universities, specialized agencies of the United Nations and other partners of cooperation with our country”.

The Prime Minister, in his speech, said that “the Government has made a great effort to create conditions for our people”, to “ensure a long and healthy life”, “knowledge, technology and innovation”, and “improvement of the standard of living”.

Taur Matan  Ruak also highlighted the five main areas of action – social, economic, infrastructure, institutional and environmental – in which the Government  focuses its efforts to “raise citizens’ incomes and combat social and regional inequalities” and in the “short/medium term reduce dependence on the Petroleum Fund”. He added that the Government “remains focused on the areas planned in 2019, which aim to enable “increased governance efficiency”, “increased productivity and employment” and “the strengthening of resilience capacity in the areas of health, education, food security and other sectors to increase resilience to times of crisis”.

The Head of Government also said that the need to create an economic recovery plan was considered when implementing the stabilisation plan and that the Commission was created with “three main objectives”, which are “to ensure the greatest possible consensus of society, around the main investment areas”, “define clear investment priorities” and “ensure that our few resources are well used to normalize our economy”.