Nicolas Perez - Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso

RESEARCH PAPER: BUDGET IDENTIFICATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE

by Nicolas Perez | May 22, 2023 | Other Publications

Climate change budget tagging is being used in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua, and a first technical approach was made in Argentina in 2022. This tool helps to track spending, articulate policies with resource allocation and design and monitor the issuance of green bonds.

There are different methodological proposals in the world and some of them could be a substantive complement to the traditional budget.
There is no global consensus on the definition of revenues and expenditures related to the environment and climate, especially in terms of budget classifiers.
The IDB proposes to assess the contribution to “mitigation” or “adaptation” of five sectors: energy, environment, agriculture, transportation, and risk management.
Indonesia was the first country to use budget tagging as a basis for issuing a sovereign green bond.
France is required to report to the Legislative Branch on the impact of the budget on climate change and is the only one to tag expenditures with negative environmental impact.

RESEARCH PAPER: BUDGET IDENTIFICATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE

PUBLIC DEBT OPERATIONS – APRIL 2023

by Nicolas Perez | May 17, 2023 | Public Debt Operations

Government securities for a total of ARS1,425.852 billion were placed in two auctions.
Amortizations for USD2.665 billion were paid to the IMF.
There were net placements of BCRA (Central Bank) Temporary Advances for ARS100 billion, the stock increased to ARS3.02 trillion.
Between May and December, maturities are estimated for the equivalent of USD74.104 billion.

NEW MONITORS: TAX REVENUE, ENERGY SUBSIDIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

by Nicolas Perez | May 17, 2023 | Activities

The Argentine Congressional Budget Office is working on the release of three new monitors to facilitate the dissemination of data and monitoring of the national budget execution in key areas.

The first one is on tax revenue, which will provide information on the revenues of the National Government, with the respective disaggregation of sources.

Another of these interactive platforms is on energy subsidies, useful for monitoring funds allocated to subsidize energy services and hydrocarbon production.

The third monitor will have information on the evolution of employment in the National Non-Financial Public Sector, with data for each year during the last decade.

With the purpose of facilitating access to this tool, the OPC organized virtual workshops to train parliamentary advisors in the use of the three monitors already available on its website.

The first of these meetings, scheduled for Monday, May 22 at 2 p.m., will focus on the monitor “Budgetary actions for children and adolescents”. On May 30, it will be on the use of “Public debt indicators” and on June 5 it will be the turn of “Gender-responsive budgeting”.

ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET EXECUTION – APRIL 2023

by Nicolas Perez | May 16, 2023 | Budget Execution

As a result of a cut in public spending and despite a decrease in total revenues, during the first four months of the year, the financial and primary deficits of the National Government fell by 2.2% and 9.3% in real terms, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.

Revenues contracted 9.1% and total expenditures fell 7.6% in real terms.
The primary result was negative ARS1,035.318 billion, which implied a decrease of 9.3% YoY compared to the deficit recorded a year earlier.
Primary expenditure fell by 9.2%, with the most pronounced decrease in family allowances (29.9%), energy subsidies (29.5% YoY) and capital expenditures (26.0% YoY).
On the other hand, debt interest grew 9.1% YoY, personnel expenses 9.2% YoY, transportation subsidies 24.8% YoY and non-contributory pensions 9.3% YoY.
Expenditures on pensions contracted 2.5%. Since January 2022, pension benefits rose 2.4% for those who receive bonuses and fell 18.4% for those who do not.
Expenditure execution is equivalent to 27% of the appropriation, 11.8 percentage points lower than that of the previous year.
Food Policy and Potenciar Trabajo showed the highest level of execution: 47.0% and 40.5%, respectively.
On the other hand, capital transfers to State-owned enterprises and to Trust Funds for the execution of works accounted for 17.9% and 19.6%, respectively.

AT THE BOOK FAIR, TOGETHER WITH ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE WORK

by Nicolas Perez | May 11, 2023 | Activities

The National Congress stand at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair was the venue for a meeting of parliamentary advisory and information organizations that presented their trajectory and challenges.

Natalia Laria, coordinator of Institutional and Parliamentary Relations of the OPC, joined Gustavo Gonzalez. director of Parliamentary Training of the Chamber of Deputies; Adrián Pagán, who holds the same position in the Senate; María Soledad Santini, from the Scientific Office of Legislative Advice and Alberto Della Bianca, from the Directorate of Parliamentary Information.

This group of entities provides key information to support the discussion, drafting and enactment of laws, with responsibilities as diverse as providing courses, researching comparative law, gathering technical-scientific information, or analyzing the fiscal impact of proposed legislation.

“Among our current challenges are to complete the formation of the body of analysts and the access to information of the Executive Branch”, said Laria during the event held on the afternoon of May 8 at the Congress stand, set up under the slogan “40 years of democracy”.

MEETING AT THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

by Nicolas Perez | May 3, 2023 | Activities

Authorities of the Argentine Congressional Budget Office accepted the invitation of the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents, Marisa Graham and her Deputy, Juan Facundo Hernández, to analyze at the headquarters of the Ombudsman’s Office, the possibility of joint work, as well as the technical criteria for reading the budget and its execution.

Through the Directorate of Studies, Analysis and Evaluation, the OPC monitors budgetary issues involving the same target population: children and adolescents.

On May 22, the OPC will hold a workshop for parliamentary advisors on how to read the data monitor “Budgetary actions for children and adolescents”.