Yesterday, August 12, 2024, the government, through the Political Review Committee, began analyzing the budget programs and proposals of the ministries and autonomous agencies, with the aim of preparing the final version of the draft law proposal of General State Budget (GSB) for 2025, which will subsequently be submitted to the National Parliament. The meetings of the Political Review Committee will take place until August 27, in the Auditorium of the Ministry of Finance.

The Political Review Committee is responsible for verifying the strategic allocation of resources in the budget submissions, in order to guarantee compliance with the commitments and objectives defined in the strategic documents, and for assessing the feasibility of the plans for the financial year 2025.

The Political Review Committee is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes, among its members, the two Deputy Prime Ministers, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Planning and Strategic Investment. The Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion, the President of the Institute for the Defense of Children’s Rights and a representative of the Disabled People’s Association of Timor-Leste will also take part in the meetings as observers. 

The Political Review Committee must ensure that the annual plans of the services and entities of the public administrative sector are feasible and that they are in line with the national priorities established in the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030, the Government Program, the medium-term plans, the annual plans of the services and entities of the public administrative sector, as well as any other political and strategic documents of the Government. The allocation of budget appropriations to each service or entity must be in line with the respective annual plans and respect the expenditure ceiling previously defined for each budget title. 

 The Council of Ministers, at meeting on July 17, 2024, established the total amount of expenditure for each budget title of the 2025 State Budget, with an overall figure of 1.8 billion US dollars.

 The distribution of the aggregate budget ceiling for Central Administration in the 2025 GSB was based on the sectors defined by the Government Program and the National Strategic Development Plan, with the Social Capital Sector receiving an allocation of 38%, followed by the Institutional Framework Sector, with 36%, Infrastructure Development, with 16%, and Economic Development, with 10%.

The 2025 Draft State Budget Law is expected to be submitted to the National Parliament by October 1, 2024.