If the Congress of the Union approves the 2022 Federation Expenditure Budget Project (PPEF) As proposed by the Executive, next year the Army will have control over 166,900 million pesos, which represents an increase of 80% compared to what was paid in 2018, explained Mariana Campos Villaseñor, Coordinator of the Public Spending Program and Accountability of Mexico Evaluates.
According to PPEF 2022, which is in the process of analysis by the legislators, some security organizations will apparently receive less money, but this is offset by the budget increase in other areas of military control, so that, in fact, the government is strengthening to the Army, explained the specialist during her participation in the Open Parliament table that took place this Friday in the Chamber of Deputies.
For 2022, the government proposes to assign a budget to the Secretariat of National Defense of 104,000 million pesos, which implies a reduction of 10.8% compared to what was approved last year.
“You might think that this is the worst amount since the beginning of the six-year term; however, if we consider that the National Guard is actually an extension of the Sedena and, let’s say, we do not put it within the Secretariat of Security of Citizen Protection (…) the story is completely different ”, he said.
According to calculations by México Evalúa, this military police will have resources of 62.8 billion pesos, that is, almost 70% more than in 2021.
“And when these two budgets come together, we have that next year, the Army will control de facto 166.9 billion pesos,” he explained.
The story behind the numbers
“I think this is the story that we can see in the budget. In the public security budget, a lot depends on how we decide to classify those resources, ”he said.
According to the specialist, for the amount that would be under the control of the Army, it would make it one of the most important projects of the current administration, unlike what happens with the law enforcement agencies.
“This budget increase contrasts sharply with what was destined for the Attorney General’s Office,” he said.
The budget for this institution has remained unchanged. For 2022 it is proposed to grant 18,000 million pesos, an increase of only 0.6% compared to last year. And he stressed that, according to his calculations, it will also be lower by almost 12% compared to what was observed in 2015, which was the maximum budget that this institution had in the last decade, when it was still the Attorney General’s Office. (PGR).
For its part, the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, under the direction of the Executive, will have 31,000 million pesos, that is, a growth of 8 percent.
“If we start to review the budget that the military or civil authorities have, what we realize is that as of 2018, there is a very important divergence and there is a distancing,” he said.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx