A few days before the end of the first semester of 2026 Several units of the Ministry of Communications with social projection show low rates of execution.
For this year, the portfolio of Communications has a current budget that amounts to more than Q7,656 millionof which, Until June 19, it had only executed Q1 thousand 758 million 264 thousand 236.15, equivalent to 22.96%.
Budget execution focuses on units such as the General Directorate of Roads and the Road Conservation Unit (Covial), which are responsible for the construction of new roads and the maintenance of the road network, respectively.
The General Directorate of Roads has executed Q553 million, equivalent to 30% of its assigned budget, which amounts to more than Q1,784 million. While Covial has executed Q635 million, equivalent to 20% of a budget which amounts to more than Q3 thousand 123.8 million.
Other units, according to data from the Integrated Accounting System of the Ministry of Public Finance (Sicoin), show low levels of execution.
Units focused on housing and social development
The Unit for the Development of Popular Housing (Udevipo), Responsible for providing legal certainty through the granting of property titles for low-income families who live in areas such as settlements, it has a budget of Q46.3 million for this year, of which it has only executed 17.67%, which is equivalent to more than Q8 million 181 thousand.
ANDl Housing Fund (Fopavi), The purpose of which is to facilitate access to direct subsidies so that families in situations of poverty and extreme poverty have resources to build, acquire or improve their homes, has a budget of Q742 million. However, it has only executed 8.31% of the allocated funds, which is equivalent to more than Q61 million 660 thousand.
The Social Solidarity Fund (FSS), Responsible for the financing and execution of infrastructure programs and works to improve the economic and social development of the country, it has a budget of Q906 million, of which only 7.34% has been executed, equivalent to more than Q66 million 499 thousand.
According to the report, Investment spending is what represents the greatest challenge for the CIV, because the units mentioned have extremely low figures. Even the Roads Unit, which has the highest percentage of investment, could be compromised at the end of 2026, so in the opinion of deputies and analysts, it is necessary to “improve execution levels” in the Ministry of Communications, since unexecuted funds are returned to the common fund at the end of the year.
Disparity between operation and investment
According to the opinion of deputy Orlando Blanco, of the legislative bloc Will, Opportunity and Solidarity (Vos), who has followed up on the budget execution of the Ministry of Communicationsthe main problem is the underexecution of spending in the main executing units of the portfolio, since entities such as Fopavi, the Social Solidarity Fund and Covial show extremely low figures in terms of the execution of their resources.
“When you see where this underexecution is, you see it in the most important units of the ministry. Covial has more than Q2,488 million without executing this year. Roads has more than Q1,231 million. The Social Solidarity Fund has not executed more than 92% of its budget and has more than Q840 million without executing. Fopavi has not executed almost 92% of its budget and has 680 million without executing. The Unit of State Building Construction (UCEE), has not executed around 85% of the budget it has for this year and has Q385 million allocated,” says the congressman.
Blanco indicates that, in total, The Ministry of Communications has not executed more than Q5,900 million of its budget allocated for the current year, which makes the portfolio execution outlook for the second semester uphill, a period in which it should reach 50% or get close to said percentage at the end of the first six months of 2026.
Same execution dynamics
Cristhians Castillo, analyst at the Institute for Analysis and Research of National Problems of the University of San Carlos (Ipnusac), considers “intolerable” that the Ministry of Communications continues with the same dynamics of previous years in terms of the low execution of resources allocated to both road infrastructure and housing and citizen well-being.
“It is intolerable that the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing continues in the same dynamic of low execution of resources. The entire issue of social policy has been unfortunately abandoned by the administration of President Bernardo Arévalo,” says the expert.
Castillo also believes that the Executive must seek the necessary mechanisms to streamline and make the execution of the budget resources it has for this year much more efficient.
“The cabinet as a whole must be much more effective when it comes to executing resources, because it must also be said, they have enough resources to meet the needs of the population,” says Castillo.