Marcabelí reforms its 2026 budget with the 65% investment rule

The Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of the Marcabelí Canton, in the province of El Oro, reformed its budget for the 2026 fiscal year through Ordinance No. 004-2026, published in the Special Edition No. 1629 of the Official Registry on Thursday, September 10, 2026. The regulation re-orients municipal spending to allocate at least 65% of non-financial expenditures to investment, maintenance, and infrastructure replacement, in application of the new Minimum Priority Allocation Rule.

The reform was approved by the Municipal Council in two debates, held in an ordinary session on August 11 and an extraordinary session on August 18, 2026, and was sanctioned and promulgated by the mayor, Eng. Jonny Estuardo Cueva Ramírez, on August 21, 2026. Atty. Vagner A. Armijos Reyes, general secretary of the GAD, certified the legislative process.

Regulatory framework of the 65% rule

The reform responds to the Organic Reform Law to the COOTAD for the Sustainability and Efficiency of Spending of Autonomous Decentralized Governments, published in the Sixth Supplement of the Official Registry No. 229 on February 23, 2026, which incorporated Article 198.1 of the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization (COOTAD). Through Ministerial Agreement No. MEF-MEF-2026-0012-A, dated May 28, 2026, the Ministry of Economy and Finance standardized the calculation methodology and set the 2026 threshold at 65% of non-financial expenditures to be allocated to investment spending.

Compliance is not a mere administrative formality: according to Article 198.6 of the COOTAD, non-compliance leads to the application of the percentages in Article 271 of the Constitution and reporting to the Office of the Comptroller General of the State. Furthermore, Article 192 conditions the calculation of transfers from the General State Budget, the municipality’s primary source of financing.

Structure of the reformed expenditure

The reformed 2026 budget amounts to USD 4,525,972.34 and prioritizes investment spending in social services programs, planning, development and territorial ordering, public services, and other communal services. The main programs are:

• Other Communal Services (public works): USD 1,960,984.34 (43.33%).
• Public Services (drinking water and sewage): USD 531,499.61 (11.74%).
• Planning, Development and Territorial Ordering: USD 254,324.49 (5.62%).
• Other Social Services: USD 241,710.61 (5.34%).
• Debt Service: USD 696,374.71 (15.39%).

Computable investment expenditure is recorded in the Budgetary Classifier groups provided for in Article 198.2 of the COOTAD, including investment goods and services (subgroup 73), public works (group 75), other investment expenditures (group 77), long-term assets (group 84), and capital transfers or donations (group 88). The reform incorporates the Annex of Compliance with the Minimum Priority Allocation Rule required by Article 198.3, with the certification of the maximum executive authority.

Validity and control

The ordinance shall enter into force upon its approval and sanction, and shall be published on the institutional web domain www.marcabeli.gob.ec and in the Official Registry, pursuant to Article 324 of the COOTAD. All previous budget ordinances are hereby repealed.

The budget reform of Marcabelí is part of the national process of expenditure sanitation for decentralized autonomous governments, which conditions state transfers on compliance with the investment rule. For the inhabitants of the canton, the measure implies that the majority of municipal resources be directed toward works, maintenance, and replacement of public infrastructure, with a direct impact on the provision of services such as drinking water, sewage, and road networks.

Source: Official Registry of Ecuador, Special Edition No. 1629, Thursday, September 10, 2026, p. 1 (official reference: Ordinance No. 004-2026).