“[The Ministry of Finance] continues to have a reserve on the expenditure of each ministry, and each ministry has a reserve for each minister to use throughout the year, according to the needs and priorities of each ministry,” stated Joaquim Miranda Sarmento.
The Finance team, led by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, presented the State Budget proposal for the coming year today in the Main Hall of the Ministry of Finance in Lisbon, a day before the legally defined deadline.
The minister explained that this year each minister could, by their own directive, determine at any point in the year which entities under their supervision were not subject to spending restrictions, only needing to communicate this to the Ministry of Finance and the budget authority.
With the new document, instead of defining a percentage of restricted funds, the Finance Ministry sets a reserve of 5% for each ministry to use in case of necessity or according to each minister’s needs.
The second budget prepared by the Finance team led by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, already approved by the Council of Ministers, will be debated in general at the end of the month, with the final global vote scheduled for November 27.
