In the midst of the open dispute with the Nation over the owed funds, the government of Axel Kicillof turned the first installment of the Emergency Fund and Strengthening Municipal Investment (FEFIM) to the 135 Buenos Aires districts and thus complied with the provisions of the Debt Law approved last year.
The disbursement was a total of $13,010 million, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 15,561. These are non-refundable and freely available resources, linked to the first placement of bonds for a total of 232 billion pesos carried out by the Province in the local market.
The regulations approved in December of last year established that 8% of the operations carried out by the Province will be used to finance the FEFIMwhile guaranteeing a floor of five installments of 50 billion pesos to be paid between April 2026 and June 2027. These funds will be divided among all the communes as follows: 70% freely available and the remaining 30% must go to finance social, environmental, cultural or infrastructure projects.
On this occasion, 70% was transferred to the communes based on the Unique Distribution Coefficient (CUD), which is defined by variables such as population, geographical extension and unmet basic needs. Now the remaining 30% will be effective once the municipalities define which project they will allocate it to.
In the midst of the financial suffocation that many communes are going through, the mayors of the UCR and the PRO came out to demand that 100% of the funds be distributed automatically by the CUD and can be used for current expenses, especially salaries and the half bonus. However, the Executive clarified that for that to happen, the law must be changed.
In the general distribution, The Killing topped the list with $856.46 million, followed by Argentine Falklands with $412.78 million and then The Silver with 412.3 million. They also appear among the main beneficiaries Lomas de Zamorawith $396.61 million, and Merlowith $385.17 million.
“Once again it is necessary to warn about the complex fiscal context that the Province is going through as a result of the cut in non-automatic transfers by the national government and the brutal drop in collection,” they said from the provincial economic portfolio. And they added that “even in this context of extreme financial difficulty, the provincial government fulfills its obligations and works together with the 135 municipalities to provide answers to the people of Buenos Aires.”
Federal meeting and photo
The payment occurs in the midst of tension with the national government due to the funds owed and the drop in collection, which results in lower co-participation for the Province and, therefore, for the municipalities.
After the photo taken by mayors from all over the country in front of the Ministry of Economy of the Nation, the governor Axel Kicillof met this Tuesday with more than a hundred leaders, legislators and mayors of the Argentine Federation of Municipalities (FAM) that they claimed in the Ministry of Economy of the Nation the reactivation of paralyzed works and the transfer of funds owed by the national government.
The meeting was held at the headquarters of the FAMin the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, together with the governor of La Rioja, Ricardo Quintela; the government minister, Carlos Bianco; of Infrastructure and Public Services, Gabriel Katopodis; and the president of the FAM and mayor of La Matanza, Fernando Espinoza.
Photo: RENSA-MIN-INFRAESTRUCTURA-PBA
In this context, Kicillof stated: “A huge number of mayors from Argentina came to the City of Buenos Aires today to demand the works and resources that correspond to our people.” “In our province and throughout the country we are experiencing a more difficult situation every day: while the needs of the vast majority grow, the national government ignores its obligations, fails to comply with laws and defunds programs in all areas,” he added.
“The absolute desertion of the national State generated a true social, productive, labor and economic catastrophe for Argentine families,” said the president and added: “Here we are mayors and governors who will never turn our backs on our people: if it were not for the support and assistance in each neighborhood and in each municipality, Javier Milei’s Argentina would already be an absolute calamity.”
