The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) has already requested that the first payment of the fuel subsidyand also knows the amount that will correspond to the second: one for Q175.5 million and the other that exceeds Q200 million.
Based on this, they make projections, but they believe that, if this behavior continues, the budget approved for support will be exhausted before the three months are up, as explained by the Vice Minister of Energy and Mines, Erwin Barrios.
Regarding the payment requests that gasoline and diesel importers must make to the MEM each week—because the fuel must already leave their terminals with the subsidy applied—Barrios explained that the original amount of the first payment is Q175.5 million; However, the amount to be disbursed will be Q147.4 million, since there is an invoice, for around Q28.1 million, pending a requirement.
Meanwhile, according to Barrios, what corresponds to the request for the second payment exceeds Q200 million and could reach Q215 million.
Although the official explained that each week could be different and they must continue to observe the trend by making projections, he explained that with the data that is already known, and with “The simple projection” makes them believe that the assigned budget will be exhausted first than the three-month period.
Asked about the search for more resources to cover that period, the official recalled that the law establishes that payment must be made according to what happens first, that is, the time or the amount of the approved budget.
Decree 11-2026, which contains the Emergency Support Law for Diesel and Gasoline Consumers, establishes that the subsidy will have a duration of three months, counted from the publication of the decree regulations or until the budgetary availability authorized in this law is exhausted, whichever occurs first.
The approved amount is Q2 billion, while the implementation of the subsidy came into effect on April 28, so the three-month period ends at the end of next July.
CONTENT FOR SUBSCRIBERS
He said that it is still early to define what will happen, but they keep in mind that there are two possibilities: one is that consumption changes and the time is met, or that the budget ends and the aforementioned deadline is not reached.
Doing an exercise with the cited data, and if the subsidy payment trend of approximately Q200 million per week is maintained, the amount of Q2 billion It would be enough for about 10 weeks in total, and since it started on April 28, that period would cover around the first week of July.
The vice minister indicated that simple arithmetic suggests that, but insisted that Consumption behavior must be observed weekly. He added that possibly in the first weeks of the subsidy, the population saw the reduction in the price and took the opportunity to fill the tanks, but one scenario is that demand decreases or increases, depending on the variation of national prices each week based on the international price.
Currently, the price of oil and its derivatives remains volatile. It is more stable, but remains around US$100; The expectation is that it will tend to decrease, but this reduction would not be immediate or as noticeable as the increase was, he explained.
Procedure
The SAT has already transferred the information from the first week to the MEM, and said portfolio requested on Friday, May 15, the Ministry of Public Finance (Minfin) to make the payment of the aforementioned Q147.4 million.
The amount per importing company is Q43.5 million for Uno; Q40.5 million for Puma, and Q63.4 million for Chevron.
The vice minister said that, after making the corresponding verifications, the MEM has already made the payment request to the Minfin, and this institution is the one that instructs the bank to make the payment.
Consider that the payment will be made between last Friday and Monday, May 18.
CONTENT FOR SUBSCRIBERS
The payment will be weekly and the MEM already has the second SAT report since Wednesday, and they anticipate that the following ones will be more agile now that the authorized rules are already in place; Furthermore, they have already established the procedure and tested it in practice.
Barrios indicated that a payment regulation was issued through a ministerial agreement and the receipt of invoices from importers was enabled.
According to the Integrated Accounting System (Sicoin), the MEM already has Q2 billion to cover the subsidy. The Minfin has already made the modification to provide it with Q808 million from the ministries of Communications, National Defense and Agriculture, but has not disclosed where the remaining amount comes from.