Budget 2023 approved in final reading; some lawmakers unhappy

The 2023 budget has been approved unanimously in its final reading yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL).

Although the law has been passed unanimously, lawmakers Ron Lam and José Pereira Coutinho have expressed dissatisfaction with the failure to include the 7,000 patacas on the pension fund accounts over the past three years.

Lam called on the president of the AL, Kou Hoi In, to vote on Article 5 of the bill separately so he could vote against it due to this issue.

On the same topic, Pereira Coutinho also remarked that this money is very important, namely to the elderly, stating that after three years of the government using the same excuse of the absence of a government accounts surplus, it is clear that there is no intention to amend this law to benefit those in need.

For the same lawmaker, the amount on the line is not that much, noting that it should be possible to “save somewhere else” to continue this benefit.

Despite these statements, neither legislator has proposed an amendment to this law in the past three years. To do so is within their power, although in practice AL always calls on lawmakers to secure a pre-approval from the Chief Executive (CE) before submitting a new bill or amendment.

On the topic, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, repeated the same explanation given several previous occasions, explaining that there is no legal way to grant the benefit to some and not to others. He also noted there has been no surplus since 2020.

Nonetheless, Lei reaffirmed that the government is taking care of the elderly and others in need in other ways, expressing hope that next year will bring back the positive balances to government accounts and, with that, the resumption of such benefits.

Nevertheless, Lam voted against Article 5, while Pereira Coutinho abstained on the same article, which does not in any way affect the approval of the law.