MADRID, 28 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The president of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), Cristina Herrero, announced this Friday that the body will issue an opinion on long-term public finances in December, which, in addition to including spending on pensions, will also project spending on health, dependency or unemployment.
Herrero has participated in an event organized by the General Council of Economists (CGE), together with her Portuguese counterpart, Nazaré da Costa Cabral, president of the Council of Public Finances (CFP). Both have exposed the role of independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) and the importance of their creation in their respective countries.
"Faced with the short-termism of the administrations, the IFIs provide medium-term analysis and sustainability of public accounts", said Herrero.
In this medium-term analysis, the president of AIReF recalled "the downside risks to real growth and the rise in inflation in an extremely uncertain context". In addition, she has warned of a slowdown in the rate of reduction of the debt ratio.
Herrero has also highlighted "the single-person management of the institution", which provides "agility in management", although he has recognized that this requires establishing "an exquisite appointment process to ensure the competence of the person". In this sense, he has referred to the 2020-2026 Strategic Plan, the period of validity of his mandate, in which he has proposed "strengthening independence, transparency and accountability".
The president of AIReF has pointed out the work of the institution to "offer with impartiality and objectivity" budget information that is not easily accessible and that "many times the Administration reserves it".
He has also stated that the role of the IFIs goes "beyond the fiscal framework of rules", that "they may be suspended, changed and will be modified soon", but will maintain their capacity for analysis and supervision.
For his part, his Portuguese counterpart has clarified that the idea that the creation of the CFP "was an imposition by the Troika (International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission)" in the previous crisis "is not really like that", since which responds to a political decision made in 2010.
Da Costa Cabral has pointed out that at first it served to set the rules and contain the country's excessive deficit, but today it already has "a function of prevention" and "financial discipline"
"It introduces a new preventive matter. We have achieved national appropriation, so that the whole of society understands the importance of the discipline of public finances, and this seems important to me", stressed the president of the CFP. She has also recognized that it has served to give stability to Portugal, "something that it did not have in the recent past".
