Sheinbaum plans to allocate 300 billion pesos to social programs, trains and other projects

MEXICO CITY (apro).- Claudia Sheinbaum, virtual president-elect, said that the Mexican government’s finances are in good shape and that next year there will be resources for social programs and for the investment projects that her government is planning.

The Morena member held a meeting at the National Palace on Tuesday with the Secretary of the Treasury, Rogelio Ramírez de la O, who will remain as head of the department at the beginning of the next administration.

It was reported that this meeting marked the beginning of planning work for the 2025 budget.

“We are going to be very responsible in managing the budget and the Federal Government’s budget is good and healthy and will close well,” said Sheinbaum, who ruled out the possibility of new taxes.

“We are allocating sufficient resources for the train project, sufficient resources for water projects, resources also for current social programs and new social programs, which in total, are around 300 billion pesos; as the large investments of this year are finished, they can be redirected to new investments. In addition to, obviously, the functioning of the government itself,” explained the former head of the Government of Mexico City.

The director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Octavio Romero Oropeza, briefly attended the meeting.

In addition to the budget, topics such as the finances of Pemex, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the economic deficit for the country, among other economic issues, were discussed, according to an informative note.

Healthy finances

“We talked about the state of the Federal Government’s finances. I can tell you very clearly that the finances are healthy, the Federal Government is doing well, and the government will close well,” Sheinbaum explained.

“We talked about PEMEX, the Federal Electricity Commission and also the budget for next year; the budget for next year is considering a 3 percent deficit, which is something that any government accepts.

“We are not planning a significant indebtedness either, that is, practically, rather, the maturities that are coming, the amortizations, etc. That part is being reviewed, of how much the budget could support in terms of a reasonable relationship with the GDP,” explained the virtual president-elect.

He added that it is a reasonable budget that will meet all macroeconomic indicators: “it will not generate any risk, obviously, nor major budget deficits, and at the same time, there will be public works that generate employment.”

He stressed that there will be responsible management of money with the proposed budget that will be presented to the Congress of the Union in November of this year and in which no fiscal reform or tax increase is considered.

“There is still room to reduce the operating budget without affecting the operation of the government itself and at the same time for the priority programs that we are proposing,” he said.

–Are these 300 billion pesos from the Social Programs or what are they referring to? – the Morena member was asked.

–No, there would be, there would be Social Programs and investment budget for the new ones. That is, it is the minimum that would be required and there is enough space in the budget to be able to reorient it.

– Would the priority be social programmes? And in this regard, what budget would you have planned?

– We had raised it, the budget for next year… if you want, I can give you the exact data later, the budget for next year in terms of the current Social Programs or the current Welfare Programs; moreover, it is close to a little more than 50 billion pesos of the new Social Programs: women and women from 60 to 64, and scholarships for high school children or high school adolescents; in addition to the investment budget, both in water, as well as some mobility and also, the budget for trains, which would be our fundamental work; and housing, because part is Infonavit and another part is popular housing that we would build, based on that data – Sheinbaum responded.

This section would include the new health program for senior citizens, he specified.

–In the 50 billion?

–Yes, but there is a lot that can be done… it doesn’t require a lot more money. We are looking, maybe there is hiring mainly for auxiliary nurses, but we are already considering it. It doesn’t require large amounts –Sheinbaum considered.

He also said that the issue of next year’s budget was discussed with the director of Pemex.

“We are not going to announce the director of Pemex, the director of Pemex, the director of the Federal Electricity Commission, but it helps us to see their vision at this time, because they have to make an initial budgetary decision before entering the government,” he clarified.