The members of the 8th Constitutional Government, the President of the Authority, the Directors of Municipalities, the Heads of State Institutions and Bodies and Services of Autonomous Funds, the General Directors of Ministerial Lines and Public Finance technicians, met today, April 26th, 2022, in a meeting dedicated to the Budget Planning Seminar. At this event, the team from the General Directorate of Planning and Budget (DGPO – Portuguese acronym) of the Ministry of Finance gave a presentation on the Mechanism for the Preparation of the Major Planning Options, the Main Measures for the 2023 General State Budget, and also on the macroeconomic and macro-fiscal forecasts for 2022 and 2023.
This Budget Planning Seminar was chaired by the Prime Minister, General Taur Matan Ruak, and was moderated by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes. It was the first time in the 20 years of Timor-Leste’s history, since the restoration of independence, that a seminar of this nature was held.
“Today’s meeting is the starting point of our Planning and Drafting process for the Major Planning Options Law, which is already following the spirit of the new Budgetary Framework Law, which His Excellency, the President of the Republic, promulgated last February,” said Minister Rui Gomes.
With the promulgation of this structuring law, Timor-Leste takes an important step, for the first time, in the area of Public Finance Management Reform. This is a major achievement, carried out by the 8th Constitutional Government, led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, during his mandate.
Organized by the DGPO, of the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the National Agency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (ANAPMA – Portuguese acronym), the main objective of this seminar was to discuss and appraise the main measures for the 2023 General State Budget, to recover the economy and promote an inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
In the session of discussion and appraisal of the main measures for the 2023 General State Budget, the Government decided on the fiscal scenario for the 2023 General State Budget, with a value of US$ 1,797.6 million.
For the future, the Ministry of Finance will contemplate these measures in the Draft Law of the Major Planning Options, to be presented to the Council of Ministers on May 4th, 2022, for consideration. After being approved by the Council of Ministers, the Government will submit it to the National Parliament, on May 10th, 2022, for discussion and approval.
The preparatory work for this Law of the Major Planning Options, at the technical level, was carried out intensively over a month and a half and involved the gathering of sectorial measures and technical consultations with 98 State entities that are part of the budgetary perimeter.
The Ministry of Finance has also reviewed the measures presented by these entities, to ensure that they are already in line with the Strategic Development Plan, the Program of the 8th Constitutional Government, the Sectoral Strategic Plans, the Economic Recovery Plan and other approved strategic documents. Alignment was also sought with the National Outcomes document, which is currently being developed by ANAPMA.
“This exercise is new and very complex, but with all the effort of the DGPO, in coordination with ANAPMA, today we can already have as a result a Planning draft, based on the spirit of the new Budget Framework Law. Congratulations to the entire DGPO and ANAPMA team,” concluded Rui Gomes.