After a request for payments of more than 500 million dollars, the national government reported that it is implementing strong measures to strengthen the financial capacity of the decentralized autonomous governments (GAD), prioritizing the payment of historical debts and allocations corresponding to them by law.

In this way, he clarified that the total transfers made from May 2021 to today amount to 8.246 million dollars, which exceeds the transfers of other governments in similar periods. These payments are divided into:

He also indicated that out of the $8.246 million paid to GAD during this administration, $690 million corresponds to historical debts of previous governments with GAD, which were pending from 2015 onwards, corresponding to the years 2015, 2016, 2017. 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He further explained that with regard to the calculation of the allocation of the Territorial Equality Model, the allocation is carried out automatically as determined by law in Article 192 of COOTAD, which establishes that the GAD will share in 21% of permanent income and 10% of non-permanent income.

These funds are distributed as follows: 27% for provincial GADs, 67% for municipal GADs and 6% for rural parish GADs.

Additionally, Art. 118 of COPLAFIP determines the adjustment every four months, depending on the variation of permanent and non-permanent income. In this sense, the State Portfolio clarifies that the said liquidations are not discretionary and do not depend on the holders of power. “If there is more oil, more is shared, if there is less oil, less is shared,” the statement said.

He noted that, as is publicly known, the country faced external shocks, such as a reduction in oil revenues: 30% less compared to the initial budget for 2023. Despite this scenario, the actions implemented by the government allowed the GAD to have an impact of 1.2% compared to the automatic adjustment made in the third quarter of the year. The Ministry of Economy and Finance reiterates its commitment to work together with all GADs in order to resolve the issue of resource allocation in time, giving priority as always to the smallest GADs.

This November 6, a Kongopa meeting was held where Paola Pabón, prefect of Pichinche and president of the organization, indicated that they demand the recognition of the debt of 563 million dollars, the immediate payment of the value of the Territorial Equity Model (MET) from September and October. They also asked the Association of Municipalities of Ecuador (AME) and the National Council of Rural Parish Governments (Conagopare) to join the request to the central government, as they too would not receive the payments.