Mario Marcel pointed out that the Fiscal Pact could provide them, for these and other public policies in the future.
The discussion of the imminent increase in electricity bills in Chile continues. Now the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, at a press point at the Palacio de La Moneda, referred to the possible increase in the subsidy aimed at mitigating the effect of the increase in rates.
And although the Government assured that they are studying different proposals to face the increase, Marcel was emphatic in pointing out that the resources are not available to increase the subsidy.
“It is only possible to increase the subsidy if we have additional resources. If today there are no resources to finance an increase in the PGU, if there are no resources to finance the Nurseries from the State, if there are no resources to finance a more aggressive reduction of waiting lists in hospitals, there will hardly be any for the subsidy electric".
Marcel closes to increasing the electricity subsidy, “only if we have additional resources”
In this sense, Minister Marcel highlighted the role of the Fiscal Pact in obtaining new resources for public policies, an aspect that has been mentioned previously regarding the Compliance with tax obligations project, where they hope to allocate those resources for aspects of public security. , health, among others.
“We have to resolve each thing through the mechanisms that are either being developed or discussed. Currently there is the project on tax compliance, which would in principle allow financing the increase in the PGU, in citizen security,” Marcel said.
"In terms of electricity rates, subsidies for the payment of electricity, some alternatives were considered in the discussion of the bill, but since on that occasion it was not possible to go beyond what was established at that time, the fact is that the law itself The law was established in the constitution of that table,” said the Minister, referring to the Technical Advisory Board that would analyze other sources of financing to increase the subsidy.
Imminent rise in electricity rates
The regularization of electricity rates after the price freeze given the Covid-19 pandemic has been part of the discussion in recent days, given the magnitude of the adjustment that, according to estimates, would reach about 5 million customers, both natural persons and companies.
The Opposition has reiterated that they are studying a possible constitutional accusation against the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, pointing out the UDI deputy, Marlene Pérez, that "only now is the Minister making transparent the real impacts of the project he promoted."
On the other hand, Pardow pointed out the Central Bank for not including in the penultimate Monetary Policy Report (IPoM) the effect of the increase in rates on inflation projections, to which the president of the issuing entity, Rosanna Costa, said that “ In the March report we were looking at the previous law.”
Finally, the Government Spokesperson Minister, Camila Vallejo, said that “the differences in projections do not detract from the autonomy of the organizations. Sometimes the projections coincide, other times they don't, but it does not alter the autonomy or respect for the autonomy that the Central Bank has."
