Government of Timor-Leste

Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers of September 20th, 2021

The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approve the draft Decree-Law that aims to create the monthly food subsidy, presented by the Ministry of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes.

This subsidy will be attributed to public servants, takes the nature of a benefit in kind and aims to reduce expenditure on the purchase of food and preparation of meals, and, simultaneously, to promote the purchase of agricultural products from national producers, encouraging increasing the productivity of the the agriculture sector. The National Logistic Center is responsible for the acquisition, management, stroage of products, as well as their distribution to the respective bodies and services.

Monthly, the public servants will have the right to 35 kg of rice, five kg of corn, five kilos of beans, five kilos of mung beans and two kilos of soybeans. In case of unavailability of any of the aforementioned products, they can be replaced by others with the same value. Delivery is made quartely by the agencias by the agencies and services in which the beneficiearies exercise their functions.

The draft Decree-Law project for the creation of a monthly transport subsidy for holders of management and leadership and leadership positions and for employees of the Public Administration was also approved, replacing the attribution of State vehicles. The creation of this subsidy aims to offset the regular costs of beneficiaries related to transport and minimize the expense associated with the allocation of State vehicles and promote the rationalization of the public car fleet. The monthly grant amount is US$ 25 for civil servants, US$ 50 for Heads of Section, US$ 75 for Heads of Department, US$ 100 for National Directors and US$ 150 for Directors General. It is estimated that this measure will allow saving of over 700 thousand US dollars in relation to the current cost of acquisition and maintenance of vehicles and fuel.

The Council of Ministers approved the draft Government Resolution on the management and reallocation of State vehicles, also presented by the Minister of Finance. This resolution introduces a set of management measures for State vehicles to minimize the expense associated with their allocation and to promote the rationalization of the public car fleet. As a result of this Government Resolutin, among other measures: a) the aquisition of State vehicles is suspended in 2022; b) the Minister of Finance, by order, will set the limit number of vehicles assigned to each agency and service; c) any acquisition of State Vehicles must be offset by the sale of the same number of vehicles; d) and all State vehicles must be registered in the national database.

Ministry Council the Draft decree- Law project, Presented by The Prime-Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, the propose is for the creation of The National Planning Agency, Monitoring and Evaluation (ANAPMA Portuguese Acronyms).

With approval of this Diploma, The Planning Unit, Evaluation and Monitoring (UPMA) is Extinct, Being replaced by National Planning Agency, Evaluation and Monitoring (ANAPMA) Portuguese Acronyms, Which constitutes with the Central Administration directly from State, Endowed with Administrative and Financial Autonomy.

This Agency’s Mission is to Provides technical and administrative support to the Prime-Minister in order to strengthening the competence of the state’s institutional and Coordinating the actions of various members of Government, In particular for the achievement of the objectives and targets set out in the government’s programs goals.

The ANAPMA is Responsible for the organization, Coordinating and Supervision of medium term multi-year planning administrative procedures and Processes, Corresponding to a period of five years, and monitoring and evaluating the respective implementation.

The agency is headed by an executive director, hierarchically subordinated to the Prime Minister and Assisted by three Deputy Directors responsible for the areas of Administrations and finance, planning, monitoring and evaluation.

The Draft decree-law, also presented by the Prime Minister, was approved for the Creation of the Civil Society and Social Audit Support Services (SASCAS Portuguese Acronyms).

With the approval of these Decree- Laws, The Civil Society Support office and the Social Audit unit are extinguished, from the prime-minister’s office, Being created, in its replacement, the service of support to civil society and social audit, which also built a central service of the direct administration of the state, Endow with administrative and financial autonomy, in order to ensure a majority of speed and responsiveness of the public administration service responsible for meeting the requests addressed to it by civil society organizations.

The SASCAD is headed by an executive Director, hierarchically reporting to the Prime-Minister and assisted by a deputy Director for Public Grants and Deputy Director for Administration and Finance.

Finally, the Council of Ministers decided to declare its non-objection to the approval, by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, of the list of candidates approved in the preliminary stage of the written test and to the oral test/interview of the aforementioned candidates, for the hiring of 93 technicians to fill existing vacancies at the level of the central services of this Ministry. END