2024-02-17 19:18:48
The national government, through its presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorniannounced the decision to eliminate trust funds through the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU), under the management of Javier Miley. Given this scenario, concern arises about the future of social programs such as Progresar and Procrear.
The Bases project, which failed to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies and was returned to committees, granted Milei the power to “transform, modify, unify or eliminate specific allocations, trusts or public trust funds created by regulations with legal status, including those destined for subsidies, review their origin and destination to achieve greater rationality, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and control of the use of public resources.”
In his statements, the President confirmed his intention to “eliminate all the black boxes of politics.” He stated: “Do you have any doubt that I am going to make the decree that cleans them (the trusts)? If I have them within reach of a decree, write them down! There are more jobs than I imagined.”
The Procrear and the Progresar scholarships would be eliminated
Although it was not officially confirmed which exactly are the decrees and resolutions that will be canceled, it emerged that of the 28 existing funds, at least ten would fall, and among them would be Procrear and Progresar. The total adjustment would imply a “saving” of 0.5 points of GDP, but would further complicate access to housing.
It is worth remembering that Procrear was created by decree in 2012 with the aim of facilitating access to housing, in the midst of the severe housing crisis suffered by the country. The National Government financed it with transfers stipulated in the budget, plus interest on loans already granted. Under this program, more than 500 thousand homes were built throughout the country.
While the Progresar plan was created in 2014 with the objective of “mitigating social and economic inequalities that hinder the exercise of the right to education.” It was aimed at young people between 16 and 24 years old who had not completed their primary and/or secondary education due to economic or social problems. It was later extended to also articulate entry into the labor market.
Two of the funds that were confirmed to cease to exist are the Fund for Science and Technology (Foncyt) and the Fund for the Knowledge Economy (FEC). This was confirmed by Daniel Filmus who lamented a “hard blow to science and technology” and pointed out that the FEC had allowed the knowledge economy to be the third most important Argentine export during 2023.
What are trust funds?
Trust funds are those income received by the provinces and that serve as a kind of guaranteed budget for more than one year to ensure the financing and stability of a public program.
The budgets directly affect the provincial governors and, according to data from the Treasury Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy of the Nation, they represent close to 2% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Among the different funds or trusts are the Transportation Infrastructure Trust Fund and the Provincial Development Trust Fund, PROCREAR Trust Fund, PROGRESAR Fund, Trusts linked to federal electric transportation, social capital and airport security Water Infrastructure Fund, Wheat Stabilization Fund and the Health Coverage Trust Fund.