“Public accounts are much worse”: Miranda Sarmento estimates the deficit at 600 million euros

The Council of Ministers began this Thursday the fifth meeting of the government of Luis Montenegro since this leader took office.

António Leitan Amaro, Minister of the President, is accompanied by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, Minister of State and Minister of Finance.

The finance minister estimated the deficit recorded up to the end of the first quarter of this year at around 600 million euros and blamed the previous government for increasing spending after the last legislative elections.

“The fiscal situation is much worse than what the previous government announced,” said Joaquim Miranda Sarmento at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, saying that it was important to add another 300 million euros to the 300 million euro deficit recorded in the last budget performance report as a result of increasing debts to suppliers.

Government Doubles IRS Cargo Limit

The government has approved an increase in the IRS lot limit from 0.5% to 1% for public utilities, which will take effect in next year’s election campaign, the Minister of the Presidency announced.

Antonio Leitan Amaro explained that we are talking about doubling the IRS allocations from 0.5 to 1% for public benefit institutions.

The minister emphasized that this measure applies to income received by taxpayers this year, which will have an impact on the IRS settlement campaign that will take place next year.

A government official argued that the measure, on the one hand, strengthens the “freedom of choice of taxpayers” to “have the opportunity to allocate the product” of taxes, and on the other hand, it strengthens in a “very significant” way support for associations of “recognized public benefit.”

According to Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, the “global costs” of this measure will amount to “at least another 40 million euros in the social, environmental and cultural sectors.”

The number of organizations to which taxpayers can allocate 0.5% of their IRS or donate VAT tax credit has increased again this year, exceeding 5,000, according to a list available on the Financial Portal.

The selection of organizations vying for this IRS designation can be made before the end of March or during the annual tax return filing process, which began April 1 and ends June 30.

These organizations include hundreds of associations and academies for various purposes, entertainment groups, folk houses, various social, day care, parish, children’s or community centers, foundations, cooperatives, choirs, charitable or philharmonic and musical societies.

This distribution costs the taxpayer nothing and does not reduce the amount of the refund since the amount is taken from the tax that is passed on to the government.

In the coming months, the government will decide on changes to the budget

The need to submit a budget amendment will be reviewed and decided in the coming months, depending on information that becomes known “in the near future,” Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said.

At a press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Finance clarified that the possibility of amending the budget was not discussed at this Thursday’s meeting, focusing on the budget situation as of March 31.

“We did not discuss the issue of amending the budget. This will be a subject of assessment and decision in the coming months depending on how many things that we do not yet know about but will find out soon may be affected. near future, and this tool may or may not be required,” he said.

The finance minister estimated the deficit recorded up to the end of the first quarter of this year at around 600 million euros and blamed the previous government for increasing spending after the last legislative elections.

“The budgetary situation is much worse than what the previous government announced,” Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, saying that it was important to add another 300 million euros to the 300 million euro deficit recorded in the last budget performance report as a result of the increase debts to suppliers.

By March, the state moved from a surplus of 1.177 million euros to a deficit of 259 million euros, a level not seen since December 2022, according to the latest data from the Directorate General of Budget (DGO).

The government approved the extension of the PT2020 refund period

The Council of Ministers has approved the extension of Portugal’s reimbursement period for 2020 (PT2020) in order to avoid the loss of European funds.

“The government has decided to approve a decree-law that extends the reimbursement period for PT2020,” Presidency Minister António Leitan Amaro said at a press conference.

The government official said that with this measure he intended to “avoid the loss of European funds.”

The government will tighten penalties against aggressors against public servants

The government has decided to strengthen the criminal framework for attacks and crimes against various groups of government employees, namely security forces and services, prison guards, health workers, teachers and aides.

The statement was made together with Presidential Minister António Leitan Amaru, emphasizing that these specialists “perform fundamental functions and it is important to strengthen their authority.”

Among the changes planned by the government are “tougher criminal penalties against aggressors”, “relief from legal costs” for aggrieved civil servants and a “public offence” for cases in these professional sectors where aggression is still being dealt with. are not classified in this way.

“The government has also decided to initiate the necessary mandatory consultation process; once the consultations are completed, the proposed law will be quickly sent to parliament,” the official said, assuring that “it is in this context that the details will be discussed” of the future diploma will be known.

“We are talking about different types of crimes and changes, be it a minimum threshold or a maximum threshold. There are different situations of crime and changes. It is also necessary to strengthen the authority of government specialists through the criminal structure,” he concluded.