SANTO DOMINGO.- The Chamber of Deputies declared the measure to be urgent and approved the proposal that modified the Law of Expenditures for this year after two consecutive readings, and increased the budget from RD$328.9 billion to RD$337.1 billion, of which RD$6.32 billion will go to cover financial applications referred from the 2008 debt, above all, to the electric sector.

The full body of the Chamber of Deputies accepted the report that favored approval as presented by the head of the Budget Commission, Jose Cabrera, who requested that the legislation be treated with urgency. The report said that US$137 million would be used for the electric sector for the rest of the year.

The budget modification implies an increase of RD$8.088 billion of which RD$5.0 billion will go to the Dominican Corporation of State-owned Electricity Enterprises (CDEEE); RD$640 million to the Dominican Social Security Institute, since the institution could not fulfill its program to become a Health Management Organization.

Furthermore, RD$247 million are destined for SENASA, the state health insurance scheme, RD$234 million will go to the program "Comer es Primero" (To eat is first); for the program of Essential Medicines (Promese) there is RD$200 million and for the Preventive Police there are RD$47.8 million along with other assignments.

Cabrera explained that the objective of the government in its negotiations of a Stand By Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to unblock the disbursements and obtain fresh resources from multilateral financial organizations that will allow the government to compensate for the reduction of fiscal income.

De Diario Libre