Scioli plans to declare BA province under financial emergency

Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli is planning to submit a draft bill to declare the province under “financial emergency”, according to what official sources revealed to Ambito.com.

According to sources, the draft bill will be submitted to the provincial Lower House on Tuesday.

If the bill gets passed, it will serve as a legal shield for Scioli to go ahead with his plan of paying the state workers' mid-year bonus in four payments, starting this month and ending in October.

A financial emergency does not allow the public administration to issue alternative currency, but does allow setting limits to the number of state workers as well some other measures aim to reduce expenses.

In order to get the green light, the draft bill will have to obtain at least 47 votes out of the 92 provincial lawmakers. A hard mission considering that Scioli’s men are way below that number. Even if they count with the backing of the Kirchnerites lawmakers plus those who belong to the ranks led by Martín Sabbatella, a well known converted, the bill will just reach out to 45 votes.