Negligible Assembly austerity cuts during crisis

The spending cuts announced by the National Assembly resulting from the economic and social crisis mean a negligible saving managed by the institution for this year says a La Prensa investigation.

An analysis carried of the information published in Panama Compra (gob.pa ), an electronic portal for public procurement, shows that measures such as the suspension of the purchase of furniture, food service contracts, and trips abroad, among others, announced by the Legislative directive, mean a reduction in the budget execution of less than $2 million is based on the purchases carried out by that entity in the last year.

Since the announcement of the Assembly, on July 13, there was no mention of a reduction in the payroll, despite the fact that the Comptroller General requested an audit on July 5.

The bulk of the Legislative’s operating budget is allocated to payroll. According to the most recent data from the Comptroller (July), the Assembly has about 4,050 officials with over, $6,586,000  allocated monthly to the payment of salaries and representation expenses- an annual expense of $79,350 708. In the announcement of the Assembly, it was stated that salary increases and permanent appointments would be suspended. According to the Comptroller’s Office, 38% of Assembly officials are temporary.

In the 2020 Latin American Legislative Transparency Index, the Assembly received a score of 11.7% in terms of administrative and budget management. The index takes into account the publication of the financial statements, the budget in general, and audits. The opacity surrounding the legislative budget has been another important point of  citizen complaints

On July 13, after a similar announcement by the Presidency, the Assembly reported that it would suspend the purchase of office and computer supplies and that advertising and food supplier contracts would be suspended “immediately.” .n addition, they promised to suspend trips, seminars and training in general.

The announced containment decisions do not have a major impact on the bulk of the Assembly’s budget.