On Tuesday 2 April, the Minister for Finance and Budgets, Fortunato Ofa Mbo Nchama, oversaw a meeting of the executive which was also attended by the Deputy Minister for the Treasury and State Assets, Milagrosa Obono Angüe, in which they chiefly addressed the Draft Liquidation of the General State Budgets for the 2023 economic period, and the forecasts for the 2024 period, presented by the Director General for Finance and Budgets, Justo Ngomo Nnegue.

According to the information provided by the presenter, it appears that, in general, the execution of this budget was in line with forecasts, with the exception of the investment expenditure item, which led to several interventions focused on determining the reason for the situation that has a negative impact on the primary balance, which went from 13.3% in 2022 to 15.6% in 2023.

In that regard, Milagrosa Obono Angüe explained that the information could have an impact on the Government's actions on the construction projects for 4 hospitals in the country, the reactivation of the work to the National University Campus in Basupu, the packages of the Corisco and Annobón projects, urban districts and the hospitals of Nsork, Kogo and Mbini, among others.

Following several interventions, the Table finally adopted the budget liquidation. However, on the revenue side, Ofa Mbo pointed to the weak performance in non-oil revenues. In response, he demanded that the directors of Tax and Collection should inject greater energy into these services, pointing out the need to boost the integrity of the tax administration's technicians, for the benefit of the public purse, reaffirming that inspections are not carried out on their own account, but for the administration.

Ofa Mbo also instructed his staff on the need to hold regular meetings with the Treasury team to discuss liquidation throughout the year, insisting that taxpayers must pay the Treasury everything that is due in a timely manner.

The meeting was also attended by the Vice-Minister for Finance and Budgets, Pedro Abeso Obiang Eyang, the Secretary of State for Finance and Budgets, María Ebiaca Mohete, the Advisor to the Presidency on the Business Climate, Estanislao Don Malavo, the Secretary of State for the Treasury, Crisantos Eyene Bitegue, the General Secretary for Finance, Silvestre Mansiele Bikene, and some Director Generals, among others.