Latinnews Daily - 19 January 2018

El Salvador: The Guatemala-based think tank Central American institute of fiscal studies (Icefi) has criticised El Salvador’s approved state budget for 2018, warning it cuts spending for strategic sectors such as education and health, and that it is “opaque”. Approved by the 84-member unicameral national legislature on 5 January, the budget is for US$5.5bn and assigns US$612.2m to health, US$416.4m to public security, and US$932.6m to education. However, Icefi points out that the amount assigned to education in 2015 was equivalent to 3.6% of GDP, while in 2018 it is just 3.2% of GDP. In 2013, the amount assigned health was equivalent to 2.4% of GDP, while in 2018, this has dropped to 2.1%. Among other things, Icefi also criticised the fact that, particularly in the areas of health and education, some of the amounts have been assigned by the legislative assembly to NGOs and private entities without the criteria for authorising these transfers being made public.

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