CAPITOL HILL, Monrovia – At long last, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has submitted the Fiscal Year 2023 draft national budget to the tone of US$777.94 million dollars.
It comes after a two-month delay in its submission by the Executive, a violation of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Law, which calls for the submission of the budget at least two months before its passage.
By: Gerald C. Koinyeneh
Despite the delay, House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, receiving the draft envelope from the deputy minister for Budget and Development Planning, Tanneh Geraldine Brunson, said it is better late than never. “We are happy that you made this submission. We all do agree that the responsibility of any responsible government is to put its people first. We want to laud you for the effort applied in crafting the budget, though it was a little bit late, it is better late than never.” I know there were some externalities that attributed to this time of submission. We are all human beings and we do expect this sometimes, especially when we have a whole load of responsibilities,” he said.
Continuing, he added: “We will look at this budget, we will dissect it, and make sure that it serves the best interest of our people.” The budget breaks down of the total US$777.94, external resources amount to US$110 million, according to Madam Brunson, currently serving as Acting Minister of Finance and Development Planning in the absence of Minster Samuel Tweah.
Minister Tweah is currently seeking treatment abroad after he and his wife were involved in a car accident on their way from Lofa County recently. She said the recurrent component expenditure is US$623.95 million. Of this amount, US$91.5 million is for debt services, while the total cost of public sector investment projects (PSIP) is US$153.99 million. And of the projected US$153.99 million PSIP, US$46 million is allocated to CLSG, National Rad Fund gets US$26.82 million while US$37 million is budgeted for the 2023 Presidential and Legislative election.
The draft budget as submitted by the MFDP is US$28 million less than this year’s FY2022 draft budget, which was to the tone of US$800.5 million. Despite the decline, Minister Brunson noted that over the current fiscal year, economic activities have been reasonably robust with revenue performing better than expected at mid-year. Despite external shocks resulting from escalating global prices of essential commodities and depressed export earnings, Minister Brunson said the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Liberian economy remain resilient, with the Liberian dollar maintaining a stable exchange rate against the United States Dollars.
Inflationary pressure kept in check, she added. These were exchanged as the result of stringent fiscal and monetary measures instituted by the MFDP and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), she added. She noted that the medium-term objective is to further enhance macrocosmic stability by upgrading the monetary policy framework and concluding the currency swap.
The CBL, in conjunction with the MFDP, is injecting new banknotes and coins into the market. However, she said despite an optimistic outlook, considerable challenges remain in youth unemployment and infrastructure transformation.
She further noted that in a bid to enhance fiscal transparency and FY2023 Public Participation Mechanism initiatives, for the first time since 2012 when the Government acceded to the transparency indices, town hall consultations were conducted across five counties to solicit inputs from its citizens on revenue options and expenditure priorities.
There were 20 recommendations on expenditure priorities affecting six sectors including health, education, security & rule of law, social development, transparency and accountability, and agriculture, she revealed. Speaking further, she said in the Draft National Budget, the Executive Branch of Government considered two revenue options that will be implemented in FY2023 jointly by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Liberia Revenue Authority, and the Bureau of State Owned-Enterprises.
However, she did not disclose the option to Speaker Chambers. She added: “Six recommendations related to the expenditure priorities of the citizens have been considered by the Executive Branch of Government; new funding of an additional US$3 million for drugs, vaccines, and medical supplies, US$2.5 million for the elimination of registration fees and all forms of financial burdens imposed on parents aimed at retaining enrollment rates, just to name a few.
“Meanwhile, the Speaker is expected to place the draft budget on the agenda of the plenary for discussion, at which time it will be turned over to the Budget Committee for thorough review during the next sitting.”