Plenary approves decrees for economic reactivation

Communiqué from the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala

[machine translation]

The Plenary of Congress approved this Tuesday, March 15, in the celebration of the twenty-fifth Ordinary Session, Decree 20-2022, Temporary Social Support Law for Diesel and Regular Gasoline Consumers, and Decree 21-2022, Law for Strengthen the Maintenance and Construction of Strategic Infrastructure; the first in support of Guatemalans affected by the increase in oil derivatives at the national level and for the implementation of the Guatemalan Road Network Recovery Plan.

Decree 20-2022, Temporary Social Support Law for Diesel and Regular Gasoline Consumers, approved as a matter of national urgency with 110 favorable votes, grants a two-month subsidy of Q5 per gallon of diesel and Q2.50 per gallon of gasoline regular.

This support mechanism will be accompanied by the corresponding authorities, through the inspection and verification process, to guarantee that the support reaches consumers.

While, Decree 21-2022, Law to Strengthen the Maintenance and Construction of Strategic Infrastructure, approved with 112 favorable votes in its final wording, will allocate more than Q3 thousand 191 million for the execution of the Recovery Plan of the Guatemalan Road Network .

The new Law promotes the plan that will have as a priority the road maintenance and rehabilitation of 14 highways nationwide, among which are three Central American Routes, two National Routes and six Departmental Routes.

In addition, the construction of 11 new bridges is planned, among which is the impact work of the Belize II Bridge; the rehabilitation of 11 bridges affected by the tropical depressions Eta and Iota, which hit the country in October and November 2020, and the purchase of new Bailey-type bridges for an investment of Q100 million for climatic emergencies.

For its part, the State Building Construction Unit (UCEE) will execute the construction of four schools located, one in Palín, Escuintla; another in Esquipulas, Chiquimula; one more in La Libertad, Petén; and a fourth in Parramos, Chimaltenango.

In this plenary session, the objections to Decree 18-2022, Law for the Protection of Life and Family, were also known, which with the approval of Legislative Agreement 6-2022, was filed and will not be forwarded to the Executive Branch.

Likewise, initiative 5810 was advanced for its third debate, with reforms to the Organic Law of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala; and initiative 5857, law for the Reactivation of the National Tourism Sector.

For the twenty-sixth Ordinary Session on Wednesday, March 16, the election of the titular and alternate representatives of the Congress of the Republic was scheduled, before the National Commission for Children, in addition, the second debate of the initiative 5773, with reforms to Decree 25-79, Organic Law of National Mortgage Credit of Guatemala and Decree 13-2020, Law for the Economic Rescue of Families due to the Effects Caused by Covid-19.

In addition, the third debate will discuss, by articles and final wording, initiative 6026, a law that declares May 19 of each year “National Day of the Guatemalan Midwife Iyom and/or Rati't Ak'al; and initiative 5297, a law that declares June 14 of each year as the “Day of the Agronomist, Environmental, Forestry, Agroindustrial, Land Administration Engineer and other unionized careers in the College of Agricultural Engineers of Guatemala.