The municipal debt reaches Bs 1,665 million and Jhonny says it is acceptable

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the municipality with the most resources in the countryhas a debt of Bs 1,665 million, which is equivalent to almost a third of the municipal budget, which reaches Bs 4,621 million.

Its main creditors are national because Bs 1,373 million correspond to internal debt and Bs 291.6 million to external debt.

The vice president of the Council, José Albertipoints out that Mayor Jhonny Fernández is managing a budget of close to Bs 5,000 million like never before, but observes that the debt grew from Bs 1,247 million to Bs 1,665 million between 2021 and 2023. “We have made a projection that the mayor will leaving the Mayor’s Office with more than Bs 2,000 million in debt, both private and public, short and long term,” he noted.

He questioned whether these loans have gone to works with low social impact. and to cover debts. Furthermore, he said that it is difficult to understand why the municipality is in that situation, given that there is enough money to cover those payments.

He noted that in the first reformulation of the budget for the POA 2024, Bs 114 million has been programmed for the payment of short-term debts to suppliers of goods and services contracted in 2023, the same ones that were accrued last year.

For its part, Councilor Manuel Saavedra He points out that it gives the impression that the municipality is bankrupt and asked to explain why it is due to the builders and even basic services. “Never before has so much money been managed, the budget is the largest in history, but never before has the municipality been in so much debt. If we have more money and it is not enough, it is going somewhere and we want to know where,” he said.

He pointed out that to date he has made three requests for reports to find out how much the total debt amounts to, to the builders and the cleaning company. “What happens to the money of the people of Santa Cruz, where do those almost 60 million dollars that we have to manage each year go, more than 12 million bolivianos a day to invest or to spend. It is not possible that it is not enough, it is not possible that the richest municipality has debts even for basic services. In previous administrations, Jhonny Fernández left the Mayor’s Office untouched and in this administration he will even take over,” he stated.

What the mayor says

Mayor Fernandez He explained that at this moment there is a debt of Bs 1,600 million and that he has the capacity to increase that amount.
He insisted that the National Treasury and Public Credit System issues a certificate, which indicates that a municipal government has a debt limit of 20 percent over the recurring income and Santa Cruz de la Sierra eIt is at 9.3 percent. “We do not even reach 50 percent of the capacity we have to acquire new credits and new projects,” he said.

Fernández indicated that they have an international measurement that indicates that the level of Municipal Government debt is stable and you don’t run any risk. “We pay our credits that we have as internal public debt and our credits that are with multilateral organizations,” he highlighted.

“When I became mayor we were at 18 over 20 percent of the maximum level, a short-term debt of more than Bs 1,000 million and a long-term debt of another Bs 1,200 million and I have to pay all those debts, they were contracted in previous procedures and I have to continue paying, because that is the public dynamic,” he explained.

He highlighted that the Municipal Government has a good rating, because he complies with the payment of his debts. “We are the Mayor’s Office in Bolivia that has the best risk rating,” he insisted.

On the other hand, he indicated that since 2015 they have been carrying tax arrears. “The real arrears now amount to Bs 3,284 million of taxpayers who do not pay their taxes on vehicles, real estate and economic activities,” he indicated.

In order to recover this default, they are taking tax incentives and deadlines. “In summary, our financial health is stable, our rating is very positive, we have the capacity for debt and we are rated as good payers within the system,” she stressed.