Chief Executive orders 2021 government spending be cut

Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has ordered the local government to cut expenditure next year, according to a decree published yesterday in the government official gazette.
The 2021 budget cut is the consequence of the impact of Covid-19.
The decree says that amid the changes in the economic environment, all public government departments and organizations must make a prudent evaluation of all types of budget expenditure for next year.
For departments and organizations applying cash accounting policies, the total common expense of the central budget should not exceed, the 2020 amount after a 10% deduction.
In accordance with the provisions of the Macau law, non-autonomous departments, departments with administrative autonomy, and autonomous departments, are included in the aforementioned 10% deduction category.
Non-autonomous departments are departments without an income, and all expenditures are paid by the SAR government’s common income. They include the office of Chief Executive and the offices of the secretaries, totaling over 45 departments.
Autonomous departments such as the Student Welfare Fund and the Housing Bureau have their own income.
The total expenditure of the MSAR integrated budget for the 2020 financial year is 114.64 billion patacas, and the balance is currently 828.88 million patacas.
Departments and organizations applying the accrual accounting method should also apply the 10% deduction.
However, the deduction amounts do not include risk reserves, depreciation, amortization, and do not involve the retirement pension system.
Public departments are requested to be even “more cautious” when analyzing budget allocations for each project, and should only register the budget when the concerned department has received authorization to proceed.
The Chief Executive also made rules for changes of human resources.
According to the decree, the number of workers at these departments and organizations should not exceed the approved number of personnel, and the number of additional employees should not exceed the number of posts available in each supervisory entity.
In 2021, a public department or organization must provide reasonable explanations in order to purchase real estate.