In the first six months of this year, the Housing Ministry spent less than 3 percent of its budget for 2008, according to a recent report by the Comptroller General's Office.

As of June 30, the ministry had not spent any of the ¢20,000 million ($36.4 million) that the government allotted for rebuilding shantytowns and helping poor families rebuild their houses.

The ministry received a total of about ¢21,842 million ($39.7 million) in 2008, a nearly five-fold increase from 2007. By the end of June, it had spent just ¢562 million ($1 million), or 2.6 percent.

While no other government institution is in such a state of paralysis, most spent less than half of their budgets in the first six months of the year. Both the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX) and the Finance Ministry spent 30 percent of their budgets, while the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) spent 32 percent.