Secretary of Finance highlights record investment in Bahia with its own resources

Bahia reached a historic milestone in public investments in 2023, with R$8.38 billion disbursed, and the majority of these resources came from the State Treasury’s own funds. Of this total amount, only R$764.2 million came from internal and external credit operations carried out by the government.

“More than 90% of the resources were guaranteed by the State’s financial reserves”, said the Secretary of Finance, Manoel Vitório, in a public hearing held this Tuesday (23), at the State Legislative Assembly (ALBA), in which he presented the report on compliance with fiscal targets for the third four months of 2023. The meeting was promoted by the ALBA Finance, Budget and Public Control Commission and complies with a determination of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF).

During the hearing, led by deputy Vitor Bonfim (PV), president of the Finance Committee, Vitório explained that the largest volume of investments, totaling R$4.02 billion, was directed to the social area, which covers the departments of Education, Public Health and Safety. The amounts invested in the Infrastructure area, according to him, were also significant: R$3.53 billion, invested by the Infrastructure, Urbanism and Water Infrastructure departments.

According to him, the investments were allocated, among other items, to full-time schools, polyclinics and hospital equipment, security equipment, highways, mobility works, water supply systems and works to combat the effects of the drought.

The secretary also highlighted the maintenance of balance in public accounts during the first year of governor Jerônimo Rodrigues’ administration. And he added that 2023 was the year in which Bahia achieved the Capag A classification, the maximum grade for the management of state accounts, granted by the National Treasury Secretariat.

The head of Sefaz also noted that, despite the growth in investments, the State’s debt remains one of the lowest in the country – the net consolidated debt ended the last year equivalent to 36% of net current revenue, a percentage much lower than that recorded by the largest states.

“The Government of Bahia is in a comfortable position in relation to the parameters of the Fiscal Responsibility Law, which establishes that a State’s debt cannot exceed the limit of twice its revenue, that is, 200%”, he stated. This contrasts, he reinforced, with the situation of the largest states in the country, whose debts exceed 100% of revenue: Rio de Janeiro (188%), Rio Grande do Sul (185%), Minas Gerais (168%) and São Paulo ( 128%).

According to Vitório, in another indicator of the situation of state finances, Bahia continued to comply with constitutional requirements for expenses in the areas of Health and Education. He pointed out that 15.43% of revenue and transfers were allocated to Health, exceeding the minimum limit of 12% established by the Constitution. In Education, spending reached 25.64% of tax revenue resources, exceeding the minimum limit of 25%.

Spending in the area of ​​education, he explained, was even greater, but, due to public finance rules, additional investments of R$2.3 billion from other sources were not taken into account when calculating compliance with the constitutional limit.

Manoel Vitório emphasized the importance of public accounts management work. And he highlighted that, despite a series of challenges caused by losses in ICMS collection due to measures imposed by the federal government in 2022, such as changes in fuel taxation, the state Executive managed to prioritize investments and maintain the operationalization of services provided to Bahians last year.

At the end of the public hearing, some parliamentarians spoke. Among them, deputy Robinho (União Brasil) who asked the secretary to include in the remaining payments the value of the mandatory amendments presented by the legislators. “When it comes to the end of the year, the debt from the tax amendment presented by the deputy is cancelled. It is not paid and, even so, there is no leftovers to be paid,” he stated. Representative Euclides Fernandes made the same request in his speech.

The secretary committed to taking the requests to be discussed at the Budget Board. “This has been a recurring statement from deputies and, therefore, I am committed to starting this discussion at the Budget Board so that we can see what attitudes we should adopt to carry out these amendments”, stated the head of the Treasury.