President of the Government guarantees Plan and Budget for 2023 without net debt

Presidência do Governo Regional

The President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, spoke today at the end of the hearings with social and institutional partners on the preliminary proposal for the 2023 Plan and Budget. According to him, the documents will represent a "zero net debt," always in a "careful management of expenditure with the optimisation of available financial resources."

The "social democratic dialogue" held with partners resulted in a "broad consensus" on a "proposal for shared strategic guidelines." It is based on the principle that the pandemic, economic crisis, war and inflation "should not be paralleled by an artificial political crisis," said the President of the Government.

José Manuel Bolieiro mentioned that the Plan and Budget for 2023 will maintain the measures adopted by the XIII Government of the Azores, such as the lowering of taxes to the maximum limit, the costs incurred with the Azores Fare and the progressive elimination of precarious work contracts with the "promotion" of careers.

We will award "priority" status to the social situation of families and Azorean companies in order to mitigate the effects of the current inflationary trend and rising interest rates.

The President of the Government also praised the "consensus" among all social partners in the "claim" that "all national measures implemented by the State" to support families and businesses should also reach the Azores.

The draft proposal for the 2023 Plan and Budget will be submitted to the Economic and Social Council of the Azores by September 30. There will be a subsequent period, also open to the population, for analysis of the document and presentation of proposals.

José Manuel Bolieiro, accompanied by the Regional Secretary for Finance, Planning and Public Administration, received last week all the political parties with parliamentary seats and the independent member of the regional legislative assembly for hearings on the draft proposal for Plan and Budget.

The social and institutional partners were heard on the same document last Friday, Monday and today.