The chairman of the Public Finance Council (CFP) said Thursday that implementation levels of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) are “much lower than expected” and expressed doubts about the structural scope of the program.
The implementation of the PRR was one of the questions that the delegates put to the President of the CFP, Nazaré Costa Cabral, during a hearing in the Committee on Budget and Finance, in the context of the discussion in the specialty of the proposed state budget for 2023 (OE2023).
“What we have noticed from the execution data provided by the Missão Recuperar Portugal structure, as well as the data we find in the integrated budget system, are de facto execution levels that are much lower than what would be expected, at the very least an effective rate of materialization of costs,” said Nazaré Costa Cabral.
However, the chairman of the CFP added that she had information that “there is a contractual agreement” and therefore “what is inferred from the proposal [de OE2023] is that many of the contracts signed this year are expected to be realized next year from a budgetary point of view in terms of effective execution”.
“It’s a risk, we don’t know, we have to monitor the implementation of the PRR for next year with great caution and with a critical eye,” he stressed.
Still with regard to the PRR, Nazaré Costa Cabral has drawn attention to the fact that the current crisis has changed reality and expressed doubts about the structural scope of the PRR.
“At the moment I fear the more structural aspects of the scope of the PRR. My question is whether the PRR can indeed become the instrument of the mobilization and structural transformation of the Portuguese economy for which it was appointed,” the president said. of the GVB.
“If we reach 2026, will it be the agent of structural transformation, will it increase the growth potential of the Portuguese economy? These are questions that raise doubts,” he added, pointing out that he had no data on this impact.
On Friday, the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, stated in parliament, also in a hearing in the framework of the OE2023, that Portugal has crossed the EUR 1 billion mark in PRR payments and that the renegotiation of this program starts in January with the European Commission.
“Since yesterday [quinta-feira] we have crossed the one billion euro mark paid in terms of PRR and we currently have more than 58% of the total allocated PRR funds, contracted after tenders,” said Mariana Vieira da Silva.
Mariana Vieira da Silva also said the government will start negotiations in January with the European Commission for the revision of the PRR, “currently developing the technical work under this renegotiation”.
The aim is to “ensure full use of European funds”, bearing in mind that the current context imposes “limitations” due to difficulties in accessing raw materials and high inflation.
The PRR for Portugal was approved in June 2021 and mobilizes an amount of EUR 16.6 billion in funds, which corresponds to approximately EUR 13.9 billion in grants, in addition to loans of EUR 2.7 billion. 2026.
Portugal received the first payment from the PRR on 9 May, totaling EUR 1.2 billion (EUR 553 million in grants and EUR 609 million in loans).
The second payment request was submitted in September, for 1.8 billion euros net, which is now being assessed by the European Commission.
If the advance received in August 2021 is added up, once the second payment is made, Portugal will have received 31% of the PRR allocation, i.e. the cumulative total of EUR 5,141 million, according to the explanation of the Ministry of the Presidency who attended the hearing.
Source: DN
