The government issued such a circular, making the Agency for Public Procurement responsible for monitoring the process of “optimizing budget expenditures” on a weekly basis and sending reports to the Ministry of Finance.
This will take place in the context of “the inevitable budgetary impact of rising oil prices, the additional need for interventions in infrastructure rehabilitation, additional demands for personnel in budgetary institutions, and – in anticipation of the implementation of the wage law”.
Both current purchases for the day-to-day needs of government agencies and the value of contracts already signed for projects underway will be revised downward, up to and including their cancelation. As a matter of priority, vehicles, furniture, computer and office equipment, other “fixed assets or consumables that are not necessary for the implementation of current activities, including current building repair services” will be “under the spotlight”.
Ministries and central administrative bodies must also reduce by at least 20% the cost and number of vehicles used as official transportation in the performance of their functional duties, providing a strong justification if there is a “need for a critical fleet of vehicles”.
And the initiation or continuation of public procurement procedures involving multi-year commitments, except those under the Growth Plan, will only be undertaken with the prior approval of the Ministry of Finance.
The same comment applies to the recruitment of new staff units. “Increase of staff, increase of salaries and/or creation of new units” if required by the European integration process are not subject to restrictions.
