Guatemala City - Guatemala's Congress approved the Government Budget for 2009. The amount is Q 49 thousand 723 millions, the exact amount that President Alvaro Colom had asked for.
Members of the opposition party Partido Patriota left the Congress to express their disagreement and they will file complaints for supposed incorrect procedures during the budget approval process.
Partido Patriota did manage to delay the budget approval for tree days. The spectacles and political shows put on display during the budget approval discussion could be described as very entertaining.
There are other legislative requirements that need to be voted on before the budget can be turned into law.
The distribution of the budget to the different line items has to be approved by Congress. This will mean a very hard fight. Many interested parties will want to influence the budget distribution.
The other item that still have to be voted on are the sources of income for the state in 2009, the taxes and loans have not been approved jet.
The budget assignment for NGO´s is still pending, and there have been serious objections regarding this particular budget item. Also the possibility to allow transfers of budget between different public entities is to be discussed.
