The President of the Republic considered this Saturday that the State Budget has to be “elastic to allow various scenarios” and pointed out that “it is necessary to readjust” its application, since “there are so many unknowns” in relation to the future.
The State Budget, as everyone has said, is a very flexible budget. The European Commission said that, the deputies in parliament said so, because it is a budget made based on what is known today, it cannot be predicted with certainty -it is never certain- but with a greater degree of probability how it will evolve in the future. future,” he said.
Speaking to journalists at the end of his participation in the Hippocratic Oath ceremony in the southern region, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considered that “external factors weigh heavily inside”, therefore the State Budget for next year “It has to be an elastic budget.” to allow for multiple scenarios, one scenario going worse, one scenario going better.”
The one that is doing worse is the one that in the end requires social assistance because the situation has become complicated. A better scenario is one in which the war ends faster, inflation falls, the economy grows again and then the intervention is no longer so long or as deep as it would be in the worst case,” he said.
Regarding the execution of the State Budget for 2023, the Head of State considered that “all budgets have to be very demanding on a day-to-day basis, this more so because there are so many unknowns, so many doubts, so much doubt, so much doubt that it is necessary to readjust the application throughout the year”.
Asked if there is a high probability that the Government will have to reinforce social support next year, the President of the Republic defended that “in the worst scenario, yes, in the best scenario, no.” And he maintained that “the worst scenario is that the war lasts, spend the year” and register “a first half of everything still with the influence of the war, high prices and the difficult economic situation because it does not grow.” “.
If this happens quickly or faster and it takes three months instead of six, and it is less intense and less serious, then the help has to be less, but you have to be prepared for everything,” he warned.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa affirmed that “what is happening in relation to 2023 is that the last quarter of this year is no longer comparable to the last quarter of 2021” and pointed out that the world will enter 2023 “with a war that did not exist, with an inflation that did not exist, without the impulse that there was from 2021 to 2022 and, therefore, this leaves questions”.
Anticipating that “probably the first semester will be quite difficult”, the head of state defended that “we have to maintain hope, but we have to be realistic and all of Europe is realistic and the whole world is realistic”.
Asked to clarify what he said at the end of the morning, when he defended that next year will be “the first great test” of the Government and warned that “however 2023, that will be the case for the rest of the legislature”, indicated the President who was ” talking about an economic test that later has political consequences”.
It is evident that socially and politically it is completely different to have a year 2023 in which there is a positive turn in relation to war, inflation and growth, or not at all, or only at the end of the year, which which means that 2024 is already weaker than it would be in the first hypothesis and 2025 is for recovery”, he pointed out.
And he said that he was also referring to European funds, which “may be more applied this year, or less applied, and have a greater influence on economic growth or less influence on economic growth.”
The State Budget for 2023 was approved in a global final vote on Friday, with only the PS voting in favor and the sole deputies of the PAN and Livre abstaining. Moments after its approval in parliament, the Prime Minister stressed that this “is a State Budget that responds to the needs of the present, seeking to support families and companies, at a very difficult time” that the country is going through.
Source: Observadora
