By: Nyima Sillah
Member of the National Assembly Finance Committee Kebba Tumanding Sanneh hasacknowledged that the recent statement by thefinance minister about slowing down the budget deficit to D5.1 billion is good but pointed out that thepossibilities of making this slowdown a reality are questionable.
“Slowing down the deficit to D1.5 billion is good, but this is just a prediction. The minister attached some economic activities [to the projected slowdown] and there are global challenges that can also make this impossible. One of those things is inflation, which is an enemy of budget deficit because anytime inflation happens, the budget deficit cannot be controlled,” Hon. Sanneh, who is also the Jarrol House representative, told The Voice in an interview.
“I am definitely not sure what the minister said, but the question is whether the factors that will be responsible for this slowdown to D5.1 billion would be controlled or would be in place,” he added.
Hon. Sanneh maintained that looking at the uncertainties, regarding global challenges, The Gambia cannot predict what next year holds as the budget is just a forecast, arguing that the predictions are based on certain factors, and that the minister of finance is relying on those factors to predict.
“He [the minister] predicted that our budget deficit will slow down to D5.1 billion but turning this into reality is doubtful,” he stated.
According to Hon. Sanneh, there was a persistent fiscal deficit and high public debt.
“The public debt was at D48 billion and that is 52years but from 2017 to date, public debt is around D114 billion or more. This, he stated, is a result of high public debt, adding that public debt is due to inflation.
“There must be a lot of economic activities if they want the economy to grow and most of our focusshould be on agriculture,” stated NAM Sanneh.