Budget Director José Pablo Gómez said that "reducing the size of the State is not the goal of this administration", according to Emol. The outlet published an interview with the official as Congress works through the current Government's first Ley de Presupuestos (Chile's annual Budget Law).
The Dirección de Presupuestos (Dipres, the Budget Office) is the agency within the Ministerio de Hacienda (Finance Ministry) that draws up the country's annual budget and controls public spending. It works like the household accountant: it decides how much can be spent and on which items, and makes sure the books balance.
Gómez is an engineer, and Emol describes him as a career official at Dipres. He joined in 2008, in the middle of the subprime crisis (the collapse of high-risk mortgages in the United States that triggered the global financial crisis). He later headed the public finance division.
He was kept in the post under both of Sebastián Piñera's governments. In 2022, the newly arrived administration of Gabriel Boric asked for his resignation. "Sometimes it isn't enough to have a good résumé or to have known each other all your life if you feel you don't have a rapport", he said of that episode.
After leaving Dipres, he served as finance manager at the Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (Enap, the state oil company). Early this year, Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz called him in to "restore Dipres's prestige".
Gómez believes they are on the right track. According to Emol, he said his public finance reports "are read, are discussed" and that they maintain a clear relationship with the Consejo Fiscal Autónomo, the independent body that monitors compliance with fiscal targets. He added that, given the spending path, the council "has started to believe a little" that Dipres can meet its targets.
The most sensitive point is the pledged fiscal adjustment of US$ 6,000 million. To put it in perspective, it means cutting or reallocating spending by an amount close to what a mid-sized country spends on several entire ministries in a year.
Asked how that cut will be carried out, Gómez did not specify budget items in what was published. He recalled that "during the campaign we promised to make an adjustment in 18 months and we are seven in", and added that "it is also good to keep looking at what the metrics are".
For your wallet, the signal matters because an adjustment of that size can affect public programs and services. Gómez's remark suggests the focus is on putting spending in order rather than shrinking the state apparatus, although the interview does not specify which areas will be affected.
With seven of the 18 months already gone, the Government has eleven months to deliver the promised adjustment. The debate over the Ley de Presupuestos in Congress will be the first concrete test of that goal.
