By Binta Jaiteh
The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Seedy Keita, has disclosed that the total actual expenditure in 2023 amounts to GMD 9.8 billion while the targeted budget expenditure was GMD12.7 billion.
He made this disclosure during the beginning of the Third Ordinary Session of the National Assembly on Monday.
Minister Keita told legislators that the mid-year budget execution translates to 22.45 percent less than the budget.
“We have also identified the top performers in terms of efficient expenditure management and cost-saving measures,” he added.
Expenditure on Personnel Emoluments, Goods and Services
The Finance Minister stated that expenditure on personal emoluments, goods and services exceeded their targets by GMD513.84 million and GMD212.39 million respectively, representing 17.81 percent and 15.29 percent above their respective targets.
GLF Capital and Subsidies and Transfers
Minister Keita said GLF capital, subsidies, and transfers were below their targets by 52.52 percent and 45.36 percent respectively, saying it should be noted that capital expenditure and subsidies, respectively consumed 45.97 percent and 49.56 percent of their annual budget.
Tax on International Trade
The finance minister explained that the revenue line has exceeded the mid-year forecast by 29.41 percent.
“The success can be credited to Duty and VAT on Imports that have over performed during the period. Duty collected amounted to GMD 1.72 billion, which is GMD 190.1 million more than its GMD 1.53 billion mid-year target,” he acknowledged.
“VAT on import’s over-performance can be attributed to VAT on oil products, which has performed significantly over its GMD 271.16 million estimate by 170.85 percent. Overall, Indirect Tax has been driving revenue performance surpassing its target of GMD 4.39 billion. The success is attributed to the good performance of Tax on International Trade,” Keita explained.
Consolidated Revenue
The finance minister further stated that significant milestones have been achieved in some types of taxes such as tax revenue on international trade and VAT on imports, saying there are certain sources of revenue that fell short of budget for the first half year, including non-tax revenue, and tax on income and wealth.
“The first half year revenue performance overall is below budget due to delay in receipt of budget support from development partners; the activities on the prior actions which are preconditions for the approval and disbursement of the budget support flowed into the second half of the year,” he pointed out. He added: “Such disbursement could not be made for the projected revenue in the first half of the year. Tax on income and wealth is below the expectation with a total of GMD2.19 billion compared to the mid-year target of GMD 2.44 billion. The payroll tax performed better than expected at GMD 48.34 million, which is GMD 3.74 million in excess,”
According to him, the budget implementation during the first half of the year remains prudent, explaining that the overall actual revenue budget fell short of the budget by a billion.
“This was offset but a lower actual expenditure than budget by D2.854 billion leading to a lower financing requirement than budget of more than D2 billion,” he stated.
The finance minister pointed out that the cash allocation mechanism is an important tool that assisted in the budget implementation process as expenditures were constrained by the revenue generated.
“Efforts were exerted to realize the prior actions for the budget support, which is an important element of the revenue and already significant milestones are realized in the second half of the year,” he conclude