The Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, this Monday criticized the opposition’s arguments on the budget strategy, arguing that those who criticize reducing the national debt do so because they fail where the government succeeds.
Fernando Medina spoke at the opening of the second day of the general debate on the 2024 state budget proposal (OE2024), which will conclude on Monday with the vote on the document.
“Those who criticize the decline in debt do so because they are failing where the government is succeeding,” he stated.
Fernando Medina criticized the right for promoting the importance of reducing the national debt, “but every day defending more and more measures that are promising without criteria or limits.”
“The right has not reduced debt in the past and has no idea what to do in the present, because in fact the right does not know how to reduce debt because it remains stuck in its ideology of reducing the welfare state and reducing income growth. and workers’ rights,” he said.
However, it also responded to criticism from parties to the left of the PS, which defended more investments in areas such as health care or more income support.
“On the left of the PS, even those who timidly claim that reducing debt is important always disagree with the pace and possibilities,” he stated.
According to Medina, these parties argue that ‘now is not the time’, that we should now ‘cut less’, but that in practice this leads to ‘continuous increases in the national debt, a reduction in decision-making autonomy and an increase in risks.’ to the country.”
The minister once again defended that OE2024 is “responsible” because “it supports the Portuguese without endangering the budget balance”.
“This preserves the fundamentals: the ability to respond if economic conditions deteriorate, by allowing the automatic stabilizers to do their work, without risking our financial credibility,” he stressed.
On the other hand, it is ‘responsible because current expenditure without interest and without expenditure financed by PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] will grow by 5.7% in 2024, equivalent to 37% of GDP.”
For OE2024, which received approval thanks to the PS’s absolute majority, the final global vote is scheduled for November 29.
The OE2024 proposal revises gross domestic product (GDP) growth upwards from 1.8% to 2.2% in 2023, and downwards from 2.0% to 1.5% next year.
As for inflation, the executive predicts it will fall from 8.1% in 2022 to 5.3% in 2023 and 3.3% in 2024.
The proposed law also provides for the best budget balance in a democracy, pointing to 0.8% of GDP in 2023 and 0.2% in 2024.
Source: DN
