By Bida Elly David
National Minister of Finance and Planning has tabled a whopping SSP 2 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024.
The draft budget committed to the assembly’s specialized committee for finance prioritizes the improvement of military and civil servant salaries.
Presenting the budget to the parliament on Tuesday, finance minister Dier Tong Ngor said out of the total budget, revenues are projected to be generated from three sources: oil, none oil, and grants.
“Out of the Gross revenues of SSP 1,837,873,440,803 for the year 2023/2024, an amount of SSP 1,536,362,243,307 is from oil revenues. SSP 245,331, 162, 471 billion is non-oil revenue and SSP 56,180,035,024 in the form of grants,” he said.
Mr. Dier said the government’s proposed expenditures stand at SSP 2,105,014,441,619 trillion, with a deficit constituted by scarce resources.
“The projected revenue for the fiscal year 2023-2024 amounts to SSP 1,837, 873, 440, 803 trillion. The proposed spending stands at around SSP 2,105, 14, 441, 619 trillion; this means a deficit of SSP 267,141,000, 816 billion, which is about 4.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP),” he said.
The proposed expenditures have been allocated over SSP 455 billion for salaries and wages, over SSP 50 billion for the implementation of the peace agreement, and over SSP 47 billion for the constituency development fund (CDF).
However, the Minister, in his presentation, neither read nor disclosed the estimated budget allocated for the respective ministries.
On monetary policy, Minister Dier said that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank will implement measures aimed at enhancing price and exchange rate stability.
He further added that the ministry will, in its monetary and fiscal policies, solicit money from credible lenders to finance the fiscal deficit.
“The Ministry of Finance and economic planning shall re-introduce treasury bills as a way to boast government capacity in raising revenues. We are going to ensure that South Sudanese participate fully in various economic activities,” he said.
Dier underscored that the government in this fiscal year is going to give credit facilities to nationals who want to invest in businesses with the intention of reaping the benefits.
“We shall continue to focus on implementing structural reforms and providing infrastructure to mitigate the cost of running enterprises,” he noted.
Dier echoed that the government has laid out a strategy to support the development of public-private partnerships (PPP) to encourage private investments in the development of the economy and infrastructure.
Rt. Hon. Speaker Nunu Kumba, after the presentation, committed the budget to the specialized committee for finance and urged the committee to report back to the house after 21 working days.