Pension for the elderly would receive 35% of the subsidy expense in 2023

The Welfare Pension for Older Adults, one of the flagship programs of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will absorb 35% of the resources proposed for the subsidy branch next year, according to calculations made by the organization México Evalúa .

For next year, the Federation Expenditure Budget Project (PPEF) – which has to be approved no later than November 15 – proposes an expenditure of 951,000 million pesos for subsidy programs, which represents a growth 15% compared to what was approved for this year.

Although the government prioritizes social programs to promote the well-being of the population, the proposed spending for next year remains below the levels seen in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto. For example, in 2015 spending was just over 1.03 billion pesos.

“What is really different in this administration is the concentration of resources on a few pampered programs. Pensions for Older Adults –focused on direct transfers to the population– will account for 35% of spending. In 2018, the program with the highest value –subsidies for state universities– only concentrated 14% of the resources,” the organization highlighted.

For 2023, the government proposes an expenditure of 335,000 million pesos for the Pension for the Well-being of Older Adults, which represents a growth of 34% compared to what was approved for this 2022.

The bet for 2023 is clear: spending on subsidies seeks to increasingly concentrate resources on programs associated with the media in power, sacrificing instruments with a real social impact on health, safety, education, gender equity, etc. In addition, the increase in resources without geographical classification will allow a more discretionary use for electoral purposes”, added México Evalúa.

regressive program

In recent years, the Pension for Welfare program for the Elderly has been criticized for being considered as something patronage, with little impact. In this sense, the organization México Evalúa pointed out that this program is highly regressive, that is, it benefits families with higher incomes in Mexico.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, while decile I, where the lowest-income people in the country are found, concentrates 2.4% of Welfare Pensions, decile X, that is, the wealthiest people , capture 8.3 percent.

“Nobody denies that Pensions for Older Adults are a relevant program for the economy of many people; however, it is not focused on the poorest, but is granted universally to all adults over 65 years of age. In fact, the Ministry of Finance calculates that the poorest 20% of the population obtains 7.7% of the resources of this program, while the richest 20% obtains 20.9% of its resources. In other words, the social program with the largest budget, which concentrates more resources each year, is regressive”, highlighted México Evalúa.

improvements

Although the organization considered that progress has been made in terms of resources used with Operating Rules in the spending of subsidies, in the case of geographical classification, no progress has been seen.

He explained that, in the first year of the López Obrador administration, 35% of the subsidies were executed through Operation Rules, that is, the main programs did not have regulations that guaranteed principles of transparency, equality, non-discrimination, ease of access, scheduling of resources, financial inclusion, etc.

The percentage of this will increase the following year, since it is estimated that 69% of the programs will have Operating Rules, the highest proportion since 2008.

Operation Rules are missing for some programs

“It is not exactly an improvement, but rather the ground lost in the past six-year term has been recovered, which is positive. Even so, there are important programs without Operation Rules, such as Subsidies for Decentralized State Organizations, Subsidies for Electricity Rates and Health Care and Free Medications (Insabi) and 23 other programs,” said México Evalúa.

However, there is progress in the amount of resources for subsidies that do not have a geographic classification or that are located in Mexico City, which is not justifiable since it must be transparent in which regions the resources will be executed. that, if not done, the discretionary and electoral use of said resources is facilitated.

ana.martinez@eleconomista.mx