Mamburay Njie, Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs yesterday presented before National Assembly members the Estimates of Revenues, Recurrent and Development Expenditure for the fiscal year 2019 at the National Assembly.
He explained that the Budget for 2019 and the total Revenue and Grants is projected at D25.28 billion, which represents an increment of 27 per cent over 2018 figure of D19,83 billion.
According to him, the increment he said is mainly attributed to changes in user charges and fees of government services, coupled with performances in Project grants and budget.
He added that the project grants are estimated to increase from D8.2 billion in 2018 to D9.9 billion in 2019, whilst they are also budgeting for budget support to the tune of D3.4 billion expected to come from development partners, mainly the European Union and the World Bank.
He told members that the total expenditure and net-lending is projected to increase from D20.76 billion in 2018 to D28.73 billion in 2019, representing an increase of 38 per cent, the bulk which is attributed to the development budget, which is primarily financed by the country’s development partners.
“The Personnel Emolument expenditures are projected to increase significantly from D28.73 billion in 2018, to D4.137 billion in 2019, mainly as a result of Cabinet’s proposal to increase the basic salary of Civil Servants by 50 percent and a 100 percent increase in pension,” he noted.
Consideration and approval of the estimates budget for 2019 is slated for December 3, 2018 at the National Assembly.