Deputy Ministers approved the extension of the food emergency during a quick session

During a short session and with little confrontation, Casa Rosada finally decided to accompany the sanction of the food emergency extension initiative, claimed by the organizations social. The project received 222 votes in favor, none against and one abstention.

For years in a session of the lower house, no tribute has been made, no question of privilege has been presented, as this Wednesday. It is the product of a general agreement, in which Cambiemos and Kirchnerism have agreed, to speed up the debate, as the street is on fire.

How much money does this mean?

Social organizations have called for demonstrations to require approval of the Food Emergency, a tool that allows the executive branch to speed up administrative processes (making purchases by direct contract and not by tender) and changing the destination of public funds from the budget (reallocation of expenditure). articles), in this case on food and nutrition programs, administered by the Department of Social Development.

On the agenda of the special session he had requested for Thursday, the opposition counted 12 projects. But only one consensus has been discussed: in addition to extending this tool until December 2022, an increase of at least 50% in budget lines for food policies is expected in 2019.

More precisely, this represents between 8,000 and 10 billion additional pesos. However, they do not represent a new expense and, therefore, do not increase the deficit because it is already an amount of money that the government can use. budget and has not yet been implemented.

In addition, they account for only about 10% of the 90 billion pesos that the government and provinces allocated to post-devaluation social measures in August..

Therefore, under the deputies of all the banks, including the Front for Victory, admit that the discussion is not so much economic as political. And they attribute street mobilizations to more generalized demands, linked to the economic crisis and the social situation, and in particular to the extension of the food emergency.