The Vice-President of the Government announced at the Legislative Assembly in Horta that the final budget balance for 2019 was 5.5 million Euros higher than the figure set out in the proposed amendment to the 2020 Budget and Plan, approved Tuesday at the plenary session.
"Hence, this amount will increase the Region's revenue for 2020 by 5.5 million Euros," Sérgio Ávila stressed, adding that the amount "should be allocated to the provisional appropriation."
The government official said "the balance of last year's budget execution stands at 32 million Euros, that is, the execution of the budget revenue was 32 million Euros higher than the expenditure made."
"This will enable us to increase this year's revenue and, thus, contribute to the financing of reconstruction and recovery investments," noted the government official.
The Vice-President spoke Tuesday at the Regional Parliament. According to him, the budget balance "is the result of the first 20-million Euro transfer from the National Government in late 2019 for reconstruction efforts, combined with the fact that the Region has achieved an overall execution (99.8%) of its own revenue provided for in the Budget and a saving of 7.5 million Euros in the Region's operating expenses compared to the initial budget estimates."
With the approval of the budget review proposal, the Government fulfils the commitment "to provide the Region with the financial means and operational conditions in the shortest possible time to fully recover from losses and damage arising from the passage of Hurricane Lorenzo, without hampering, conditioning or affecting other planned investments," said Sérgio Ávila.
"We have met this challenge and here we are to move forward with this new stage of our development," stressed the Vice President.