The education sector will face a 1 billion pataca cut in 2021, as per the 2021 Budget bill presented by the government.
The bill, currently under analysis by the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), is being questioned by lawmakers, as they say it lacks clarity and justification for most of the figures stated, including for education. Chairman of the Committee Ho Ion Sang raised these points yesterday after an internal committee meeting.
Ho said that the committee members have raised many questions regarding the cuts by the government, which is aiming to balance the accounts in the budget, which is presenting a deficit.
“On Education (for instance), the government states that it is going to reduce the expenses and present a budget with 1 billion patacas less [expenditure, when compared to that presented last year]. At the same time, the government promised not to cut from areas of the budget that are directly related to the wellbeing of the population, so we need to ask in what [Education-related] expenses the government aims to make this cut,” Ho said.
The Chairman also noted that other topics appear confusing to the lawmakers and further explanation is required, such as, the budgeting of 110 million patacas for Higher Education Bureau’s (DSES) expenses for 2021, when the merging of the bureau with the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau from February 1 next year has already been announced.
Due to this, the lawmakers are not able to comprehend why the almost-extinct DSES needs a budget of 110 million patacas to operate for the period of just one month.
It is also difficult to explain the spending containment when, despite the announced reduction of the number of Civil Servants from around 38,000 in 2020 to 36,600 in 2021, there are at least six public entities and services that are growing their staff number to more than 50 in 2021.
According to the calculations of the lawmakers, the six entities, which include several entities from the Security Forces as well as the University of Macau, the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the Health Bureau, are accountable for the hiring of more than 640 new Civil Servants.
Gov’t revenue declines 67pct in January-October period
Revenue from the government has fallen 66.7% in the first 10 months of this year, as per the figures released by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF).
According to the release, between the period of January and October, revenue, including gaming revenue, reached 36.2 billion patacas. In the same period last year, the government had collected 108 billion patacas.
Expenditure grew from 62 billion patacas last year to around 69 billion in 2020, a figure that represents a hike of 11.3%.
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