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El Ciudadano

Original article: Quiroz no suelta la tijera: defendió recortes y admitió “falencia” comunicacional

Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz broke his silence amid the political storm triggered by directives sent to various ministries in preparation for the 2027 Budget Bill. Rather than retreating, he emphasized his sharp-cutting strategy, which includes reductions of up to 15% and the closure of public programs—many of which are central to Chile’s social policy—and admitted that the communication management of José Kast‘s government has been inadequate.

“Clearly, we need to improve how we explain things,” he stated in an interview on the Estado Nacional program, labeling the situation as a “failure” on the part of La Moneda. Despite the criticisms, Quiroz insisted that the “direction remains unchanged” and defended each of the proposed cuts, arguing that they are essential tools for organizing fiscal accounts.

The Finance Ministry proposes to discontinue or significantly cut the budget for hundreds of public programs, ranging from cultural initiatives to social and security policies.

In Health, according to official documents, there is a request to discontinue 24 programs—including suicide prevention, migrant care, transgender health services, and palliative care in Primary Health Care (APS). Programs like Streets Without Violence and the fight against organized crime in Security, as well as the Human Rights Program of the Undersecretariat of Human Rights, a key body for executing the National Search Plan, would also be eliminated.

In the area of Education, the Public Education Support Fund, the School Feeding Program (PAE) from Junaeb, the Teacher Vocational Scholarship, the teacher induction and mentoring system, reading and writing programs, school reintegration initiatives, and PACE could be eliminated.

In a strong defense of the austerity measures promoted by the Kast administration, the Secretary of State indicated that “expenditures are out of control,” confirming the absolute need to rationalize public spending.

“I would remove the adjective ‘social’ because we have repeatedly stated that the social issue is not touched, which does not mean that we should not seek efficiency, and there are many opportunities for that,” Quiroz said, attempting to shift the discussion away from social issues to the realm of administrative efficiency.

Quiroz: “This is a Presidential Decision”

The Finance Minister suggested that the controversial directive is merely the starting point for a technical dialogue with each ministry and detailed that the document establishes a clear methodology: to reduce expenses by 3%.

He clarified that this first phase of fiscal adjustment, already outlined in operational decrees, amounts to $1.7 trillion.

“This directive marks the beginning of the process, where we inform ministries that our goal is to cut expenses by 3% compared to the existing budget law. Please identify where to make cuts and we suggest a methodology. As a result, some achieve the 3%, some achieve more than 3%, while others achieve less, and once established, it becomes a decree,” he stated in comments reported by El Mostrador.

When asked about possible resistance from some ministers to apply cuts in certain programs, he indicated they would need to identify which areas to reduce spending to comply with the budget cuts.

“Let’s remember that this is a presidential decision. Here, the government is led by the President of the Republic,” Quiroz emphasized.

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