Budget has same focus for years

[NewsWhore]

Over the last five years the Dominican government's budget has focused just about the same percentages of its resources to the same entities with little evidence of change. Huge budget assignments for the NGOs appear to be well entrenched in the budgets, reaching RD$1.3 billion this year. There is little, if any, auditing of these NGOs and their performance. According to Listin Diario, another weak point is the fact that there are large government allocations to private institutions that operate in the educational field on a "for profit" basis. The national debt service receives RD$62 billion a year, and a lot of money goes to ministries and governmental offices that "don't do a whole lot" such as the Ministry of Women, Office of Price Controls, the National Council for Agricultural and Forestry Research (CONAIF), the Agriculture Bank and the Dominican Land Reform Institute. The paper reports that Congress received RD$1.5 billion in funding last year, about 1% of the total national income, and this year the new Congress will have to carry out its functions with a budget passed by the former members that reaches RD$3.7 billion. The President's office receives RD$27.66 billion.

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