In the first two months of the year, the spending of the Ministry of Welfare, which implements several of the priority programs of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, registered an increase at a three-digit rate, according to information from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).
In the Public Finance and Public Debt Report as of February, the Ministry of Finance detailed that the Ministry of Welfare spent 73.995 million pesos, which represented an annual increase of 156%, being the agency with the greatest increase in its expense in the period.
In this sense, the organization México Evalúa highlighted that 98.5% of the expenditure of this secretariat, to date, is for subsidies, mainly for the program of Welfare Pensions for Older Adults.
México Evalúa highlighted that Bienestar was one of the government agencies that is behind schedule in its spending. In total, 76% of the agencies are in this situation due to a weakening of budget revenues, but it is this Secretariat that has had the most resources.
“There is something that the government does not seem willing to sacrifice in these difficult times: its political interests. The Ministry of Welfare, although behind the calendar, exhibits an expense of 74,000 in the first two months of the year, 156% more than in the same period of 2021 and the highest amount on record. It is clear that the government can do without everything except handing out generous subsidies prior to an election,” he added.
According to the expenditure schedule of the Ministry of Welfare, in the first two months of the year the approved expenditure was 90.5 billion pesos, that is, 16.5 billion pesos were not spent in the period.
Tourism and STPS, other winners
Other Ministries that presented significant increases in their spending in the first two months of the year were those of Tourism and that of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), which also implement social programs or priority infrastructure projects of the López Obrador government.
The Ministry of Tourism, where the Mayan Train construction project is located, presented an expense of 12,703 million pesos, 15 times more than the expense that was exercised in the same period of 2021.
“The Ministry of Tourism presents an expense of 12,700 million pesos, 1,321% more than in 2021 and the highest amount recorded since 2003, when the data began to be available. This increase is completely related to an expansion of spending on infrastructure, that is, the Mayan Train. After completing the Felipe Ángeles International Airport and perhaps anticipating possible protections for environmental damage, the government is stepping on the accelerator with this priority project,” said México Evalúa.
In the case of the STPS, the expenditure made in the first two months of the year was 5,212 million pesos, which represented an annual increase of 36.1%, as well as the highest amount for a similar period.