It’s a shocker that the Ministry of Finance and Planning halts all government spendings including payment of salaries, due to lack of budget as the previous Fiscal year comes to an end.

What happened to the finances of 2023/2024 Fiscal year budget where about 7-8 months’ salaries have remained unpaid, rather unappropriated?

Last year, the national Parliament passed a budget with a 400 percent increment in salaries and wages for civil servants, the Army, and other organized forces.

Though the minister of finance was expected to table a supplementary budget later on to raise salaries to 600 percent, it never materialized, to date.

What would happen if another budget comes before the previous one is appropriated and how possible is it that it will not go the same path?

Could the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Finance, as a technocrat, paint the scenario behind the failure or delayed presentation of 2024/2025 Fiscal year budget?

In the Parliament, the budget goes through processes, first the presentation, the scrutiny by the specialized committees and through to the third reading.

We should then expect the entire exercise will take us to October, God willing.

The task is upon the August House to redeem the situation to bail out citizens who are enduring hardship and for peace to prevail in the country.