State finance study report released

The Mexican Institute of Competitiveness recently released the results of its Index of Information of Expenditures 2017 that gave Baja California 69.8 points, the ninth-best nationwide. According to the report, the state was given 78 points in budget information, 54 in accounting information and 100 in programmatic information.

The report studied items like revenue, expenditures, finance update, cash flow, financial changes, debt and spending per program.

Last year the state’s approved budget included 44,402.17 million pesos in estimated revenues, but actually got 3,620.11 million pesos or 8 percent in additional revenue.

The report says the state doubled the subsidies received and had 6 percent more taxes, but observed reductions in other areas.

The state also calculated the expenditure of 44.4 billion pesos, or $2.4 billion, but ended up spending 5.9 billion pesos more, or 13 percent.

The non-profit institute said in its report that the state reduced expenditures in advertising by 3 percent, public works by 22 percent and administrative costs by 4 percent.

In contrast, the state reported an 8 percent spending increase in travel, 19 percent in justice, 10 percent in education, 29 percent in public health and 78 percent in public safety. Also, the Assembly approved 400 million pesos of debt but actually incurred 701.24 million pesos, or 75 percent more.

With the surplus funds, the state could have paid a fifth of its debt, the institute said.