The credit of G. 270,000 million for the Municipality of Asunción, approved yesterday on the fly and irregularly, will be to pay salaries of officials, irregular withholding expenses not deposited to the Municipal Loan Fund and for suppliers. With the obligation, the balances in red from 2021 will be paid until the end of the year 2022. The expedited approval will be discussed today, at 10:00.
–
In an extraordinary session of the Municipal Board held yesterday at 11:00 by motion of councilors of the opposition, the passage to the Finance Commission of the analysis of the credit of G. 270,000 million for temporary cash deficit was approved, of which until now did not know details of justification of the exponential growth of the debt.
“Thanks to the request that this loan contract not be dealt with on tables without further discussion, with the passage to the commission it was achieved, with corkscrew and by force, to know what the component of the deficit is,” said councilor Federico Franco Troche, who regretted the speed with which the opinion was made on the same day of referral.
In the afternoon, a favorable opinion from the commission chaired by the mayor Fabiana Benegas – finally the elected mayor Óscar Nenecho Rodríguez – was announced, with the election of financial entities for the loan and a new session was called for the authorization to the quartermaster that will be today.
Franco Troche said that with this measure the level of indebtedness of the Commune reached levels never seen before. “We are facing a very critical situation, we had opposed this level of indebtedness, we opposed the G. 270,000 million, we consider that the authorization has been irregular, the analysis was not carried out according to the procedure,” he said.
Therefore, the opposition bench will once again take a position against it. “We are going to object because opinions of this type have to be delivered at least 24 hours in advance, this has a series of irregularities in ways that have to do with the validity of the act and the substance that have to do with the financial situation to the one they expose to the Municipality ”, he explained.
With the administration of Nenecho Rodríguez and his successor César Ojeda, the Commune contracted financial obligations that exceed those of previous years and exceeded the amount of loans requested.
“The administration of Nenecho and Ojeda indebted the Municipality at historical levels never seen before over their ability to pay. This is like a snowball; last year in the middle of the pandemic, G. 200,000 million was requested, “said Troche. And he added that the request for a new obligation occurs even with a scenario presented as favorable. “This year according to reports, revenues exceeded historical levels, there had never been a collection compared to the previous 5 years until September, as it is possible that the Municipality is in debt G. 270,000 million to cover temporary cash deficit , that is, to cover their operating expenses ”, he emphasized.
Irregular fate
Among the justification for the loan request are some G. 20,000 million corresponding to discounts made to the salaries of the officials in the concept of the Municipal Loan Fund, which were withheld by the Commune and not deposited.
“The Municipality has not deposited the Municipal Loan Fund since May, it could be framed in the figure of embezzlement because one cannot withhold money destined for that fund and use it for other purposes,” said Troche.
Some G. 180,000 million will be for the payment of salaries from October to December including bonuses and finally some G. 70,000 million to honor contractual debts with suppliers of the Municipality.
With the passage to the commission, it was possible, with a corkscrew and by force, to know what the component of the deficit is. Federico Franco Troche Councilor
–
