This Saturday, the extraordinary Council of Ministers approved the government’s draft state budget for 2024 (OE2024), which will be presented to the Assembly of the Republic on Tuesday.
“The Council of Ministers approved this Saturday the draft law on the state budget for 2024, which will be presented to the Assembly of the Republic on October 10,” a short government statement can be read.
The government was in parliament on Friday to present the parties with the overall OE2024 guidelines.
Following the government’s introduction to Parliament on Tuesday, proposal OE2024 will be debated and voted on as a whole on October 30 and 31, with a final global vote scheduled for November 29.
On Saturday morning, Prime Minister António Costa signed with the social partners, with the exception of the CGTP and the CIP, the Strengthening of the Medium-Term Agreement for Increasing Incomes, Wages and Competitiveness, which increases in particular the value of the national minimum wage for the next year to 820 euros.
In statements following the signing of this agreement, António Costa stressed that the increase in the national minimum wage by 60 euros next year to 820 euros is the “biggest annual increase” ever.
Strengthening the agreement also includes measures already announced regarding IRS Jovem, phasing out income tax cuts within the IRS and updating brackets next year or creating tax and contribution incentives for employer housing. .
The document also envisages an agreement with the civil engineering sector on an “investment pact and simplification commitment to promote the construction of housing for the middle class” – be it for rent or for own homes, or strengthening the emergency renewal of family benefits.
At the agricultural level, the agreement provides for the continuation in 2024 of VAT exemptions on fertilizers, mineral fertilizers and soil improvers, as well as flour, cereals and seeds for feeding livestock, poultry and other animals.
According to Prime Minister António Costa, tourism will receive increased funding to promote Portugal as a destination “to combat seasonality” and “the extension of the concessionary tariff on drinks in restaurants will be extended.”
After Friday’s meetings with Finance Minister Fernando Medina and Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ana Catarina Mendes, the parties provided some information about the document, which they criticized.
The SDP said the government was preparing to retain the IRC, not scrap teachers’ seniority reimbursement and cut the IRS slightly next year, while Chega said it had received assurances “that the government will extend it to next year’s existing measure of VAT refunds for excess amounts from a provider “
IL said that, according to the Minister of Finance, in 2024 the “fiscal balance will be neutral” and economic growth will be around 1.5%.
PAN, in turn, reported that the government predicts that the inflation rate this year will be 4.6%, and also predicts a decrease in the unemployment rate.
The confirmation of the budget surplus this year was criticized by B.E. and Livre, who believed that the government was not and would not take the necessary measures in a number of areas, despite having the budgetary reserves to do so.
In the same critical vein, PCP expects that OE2024 will not include needed solutions to problems in health, education and housing.
Conversely, the PS (Government Party) believed that OE2024 would strengthen revenue and public policy, namely by freezing all transport passes, and promised openness in assessing opposition proposals for amendments.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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