Reflexiones: La insostenibilidad de la regla fiscal
Fecha
2021-09-07
Autores
Vargas Alfaro, Leiner
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Editor
La República
Resumen
Cuando en el 2018 se discutió el proyecto de ley de sostenibilidad fiscal, se incorporó un doble candado al gasto público presupuestado y a su contraparte, el gasto público ejecutado, llamado en su conjunto regla fiscal. Como todo en política pública, en principio tiene sentido contener el gasto público para evitar una crisis de insostenibilidad fiscal, aspecto que claramente lleva a otros problemas económicos con consecuencias mayores en el bienestar, la equidad y capacidad del Estado de sostener su acción a largo plazo. Sin embargo, “ni tanto que queme al santo, ni tan poquito que no lo alumbre”, la verdad es que a quienes elaboraron esta regla fiscal se les fue la mano, el pie y todo y calcetines. La pandemia no sólo ha venido a acelerar la expansión de los gastos y retrasar los beneficios de los nuevos ingresos aprobados en la reforma del 2018, sino que ha significado nuevos desafíos para la acción del sector público, poniendo en evidencia y entredicho la ya conocida regla fiscal.
When the fiscal sustainability bill was discussed in 2018, it incorporated a double lock on budgeted public spending and its counterpart, executed public spending, called in its entirety fiscal rule. Like everything else in public policy, it makes sense in principle to contain public spending to avoid a crisis of fiscal unsustainability, which clearly leads to other economic problems with greater welfare consequences, the equity and capacity of the State to sustain its long-term action. However, "not so much as burns the saint, not so little that it does not shine on him," the truth is that those who elaborated this fiscal rule lost their hands, feet and everything and socks. The pandemic has not only accelerated the expansion of expenditures and delayed the benefits of the new revenues approved in the 2018 reform, but has also meant new challenges for public sector action, exposing and challenging the well-known fiscal rule.
When the fiscal sustainability bill was discussed in 2018, it incorporated a double lock on budgeted public spending and its counterpart, executed public spending, called in its entirety fiscal rule. Like everything else in public policy, it makes sense in principle to contain public spending to avoid a crisis of fiscal unsustainability, which clearly leads to other economic problems with greater welfare consequences, the equity and capacity of the State to sustain its long-term action. However, "not so much as burns the saint, not so little that it does not shine on him," the truth is that those who elaborated this fiscal rule lost their hands, feet and everything and socks. The pandemic has not only accelerated the expansion of expenditures and delayed the benefits of the new revenues approved in the 2018 reform, but has also meant new challenges for public sector action, exposing and challenging the well-known fiscal rule.
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Palabras clave
ECONOMÍA, POLÍTICA FISCAL, CRISIS ECONÓMICA, COVID -19 (ENFERMEDAD), COSTA RICA, ECOMOMY, FISCAL POLICY, ECONOMIC CRISIS, COVID -19 (DISEASE)