The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) anticipated that it will not be able to meet the fiscal goal of 2% for 2024, which would break, for the second consecutive year, its public deficit objectives, associated with lax collection that it refuses to lift.
During his presentation before the Congressional Oversight and Comptroller Commission, Minister José Arista acknowledged that more resources will be needed than those projected at the beginning of the year to meet the Government’s objectives.
“Our great objective is fiscal sustainability, and fiscal sustainability is to endure a little the greater demand for expenses that we have and manage it based on the level of income,” he indicated this Friday afternoon in Congress.
Until just a month ago, the minister trusted in the new austerity policies that imply cuts to the state administration to reach a deficit that does not exceed 2% of GDP. This was stated during the Peru Mining Investments Summit event, organized by El Dorado.
However, and despite the fact that multiple legal devices have been presented since then to reduce public spending, the numbers at the end of the first quarter have forced the MEF to update its fiscal forecasts for 2024.
“The fiscal goal for this year is 2%, but at this point in the game I think it will be a little more, because with 2% we put too much pressure on spending, which I don’t see as important now”Arista acknowledged.
Previously, the Peruvian Institute of Economics (IPE) had anticipated in February that Peru would fail to meet its fiscal goal for the second consecutive year, with a deficit of 2.9% of GDP in 2024 “which could be reduced to 2.3% with better external winds and greater dynamism of the economy”.
Source: Larepublica
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