On April 2, 2020, the Mendoza legislature passed into law the “health, social, administrative, economic, and financial emergency”. The COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning, and the Executive Branch requested extraordinary powers from the legislature to face the unknown.
Among the numerous powers authorized by the Legislative Branch were the ability to “reallocate budgetary expenditures for capital and current goods, either between them or within each category, without any limitation” and “to take on debt up to the equivalent of 10% of the 2020 budget approved under Law No. 9219.” The latter translated into permission to borrow $19 billion.
All of this was justified as a way to “act dynamically and decisively in response to the enormous challenges posed by this health crisis, not only in terms of healthcare but also in its social and economic effects”.
Now, more than a year after that request and with the 2020 financial accounts closed, we ask: How did the Executive Branch use these extraordinary powers?