Malanding
You must be reading the 2002 Budget. I did fall into
the trap of thinking that the Speech budget available
at www.statehouse.gm was the latest version. Its not!
Gassa tells us that this will be posted to the site
soon.
Thank you
--- Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Our thanks to Koto Sidi and Pa Modou Gassama for
> their efforts.
>
> I must admit I am yet to read the entire document
> but I am totally confused.
> Is this speech a state of the nation address or 2002
> budget? It may be
> tradition but the finance minister presenting the
> years budget in this
> format but I think it is seriously flawed.
>
> If the speech is about the state of the nation then
> I suggest that the Head
> of State to take up the challenge to clearly the
> Gambian people in another
> forum, what his Government has achieved in the past
> year and plane to do
> for the next year.
>
> Likewise the budget report as the name suggests
> should be a clear and
> concise statement on the governments revenue and
> expenditure for the ending
> year and the planned expenditure and revenue for the
> next year. This will
> help avoid the need to plough through all these
> un-necessary material. For
> instance the section on the Government's plan for
> the postal Service for
> tells us little about how the sector faired, in
> terms of expenditure and
> revenue in 2002 or how much we are budgeting for the
> 2003 year.
>
> Overall It looks like a poorly organized
> unprofessional waffle and number
> gymnastics! You wonder what year the SOS is talking
> about? How can we talk
> about estimates for the year ending 2001 in a
> 2002/2003 budget? What year is
> the SOS referring to when he said "Output from
> Livestock, Forestry and
> Fishing are also estimated to grow by 3, 4 and 18
> percentage points
> respectively. Agriculture is therefore forecasted to
> grow by 8.6%." Isn't it
> only a few weeks ago that the government issued a
> crop failure and famine
> warning? If so what does this thing on agricultural
> forecast really mean?
>
> About number gymnastics, the following sums it all:
>
> <beginning of quote>
>
> " Fiscal Developments
>
> Mr Speaker,
>
> The performance of revenues and expenditure for the
> current fiscal year has
> been mixed. While there has been revenue shortfalls,
> especially in the first
> quarter, as a consequence of lower customs
> collections and low payments from
> the public enterprises, expenditure overruns
> associated with the additional
> payments to Alimenta exerted pressure on the outcome
> of 2001 fiscal
> aggregates. The fiscal authorities stepped in with
> some measures to improve
> revenue collections and tightened spending to
> contain the deficit to the
> targeted level.
>
>
> Revenue for the year 2001, according to programmed
> figures, have been
> revised downwards to D1.31 billion which represents
> a 17% growth from the
> actual outturn of D1.1 billion in 2000. However, the
> total revenue collected
> between January to October 2001 totals D874.7
> million, and this represents
> 77% of expected revenues for the current year. This
> revenue outcome recorded
> up to end-October comprised of D714.9 million of tax
> revenue, D109.8 million
> non-tax revenue and a grant element of D50.1
> million.
>
>
> The total projected expenditure amounted to D1.5
> billion of which about D1.1
> billion (70%) has already been spent from January to
> October of this year.
> Out of this amount, about 26% was used to pay wages
> and salaries, 23% went
> to interest payments and the rest is accounted for
> by capital expenditure.
> The overall fiscal deficit excluding grants is
> expected to be contained at
> around 5.9% of GDP. However, this relatively high
> level of deficit has taken
> into cognisance of the on-lent amount of D77 million
> to NAWEC for the
> acquisition of a 6.5MW generator. If this is
> excluded, the deficit will
> narrow down to about 4.6% of GDP. " <end of quote>
>
> I am not an economist or an expert in finances but I
> think something is
> seriously not right here.
>
> Malanding Jaiteh
>
>
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