The budget of the Presidency of the Republic was approved on Monday by a majority of 132 votes in the plenary session of the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP), with no abstentions or objections. The presidential institution's budget for 2024 shows an increase in current administrative expenditure and capital expenditure. When questioned by the MPs on the justification for this increase, Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic, Mourad Halloumi, broke down the two-part structure of his department's budget. With regard to current administrative expenditure, the official was keen to point out that the increase in current expenditure was due to the rise in the budget for salaries. Under this heading, he mentioned new recruits, promotions, functional posts and the specialisation allowance for the presidential security programme. With regard to capital expenditure, he pointed out that this part of the budget had also been increased in the context of the 2024 budget, with an amount of 12.830 mil lion dinars, divided between the construction of new administrative buildings and the purchase of equipment and materials. All the funds allocated in the 2024 budget concern three major programmes of the institution of the Presidency of the Republic, namely the National Security and External Relations Programme, the Presidential Programme for Security and Protection of Officials and the Command and Support Programme. These programmes require the mobilisation of a total budget estimated at 214 million and 270 thousand dinars, of which 75.29% is for remuneration and 18.4% for management and intervention, representing an increase of 4.92% compared to the 2023 budget. This budget aims to enable the services of the Presidency of the Republic to keep pace with national, regional and international challenges, added the Chief Adviser to the President of the Republic. It is also intended to strengthen the security and stability of the presidential institution and to provide it with the necessary conditions for its overall development, in order to consolidate its position at regional and international level, following the meetings of the National Security Council and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In this context, he recalled that the President of the Republic had given instructions to speed up the establishment of the National Intelligence Centre as part of a new approach based on the complementarity of bodies and structures within the framework of the unity of the State. Source: EN - Agence Tunis Afrique Presse