Govt. Expenditure Out-ways Revenue Collections…
BAN Report
By Mohamed KInawa
The Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) credibility report has stated that expenditures by the government of Sierra Leone far out-ways revenue collected. The BAN credibility report launched on Thursday 10th November 2023 draw series of analysis on budget credibility, government spending and revenue collection. The report launched at the Freetown City Council was made possible through funds from Irish Aid with support of Christian Aid Sierra Leone.
Presenting the findings the Coordinator of Budget Advocacy Network, Abu Bakarr Kamara said expenditure by government far exceeds what they collects and since government expenditure is more than the total revenue, there is a need to rationalize government expenses and implement measures that would reduce cost.
He said there is every need to conduct routine and comprehensive assessments of all government agencies and programmes to locate areas of inefficiency, duplication, and waste.
‘Implement E-Government -The digitization of governmental services may result in financial savings, the reduction of administrative burdens, and an increase in the effectiveness of service delivery. Limit Recurrent Expenditure: This includes, salaries, allowances, and other running costs. While it’s important to pay public servants fairly, governments need to ensure that the wage bill is sustainable,’ he said.
Mr. Kamara noted that there is every need to reduce overseas traveling by implementing Transparent Travel Policies and that Government should have clear and stringent policies on who gets to travel, for what purpose, and how often.
This he said can curb unnecessary travel and before approving any overseas travel, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis should be conducted to ascertain if the benefits of the trip outweigh the costs. If they don’t, alternatives should be considered.
The BAN Coordinator said the FY2023 domestic revenue, on a month-by-month basis, surpassed the FY2022 throughout from March to September except for the months of January and February in which revenues fell short of 2022 by NLe 21,071 and NLe117,065 respectively.
Mr. Kamara noted that the months of August, June and September 2023 recorded the highest revenues over FY2022 by NLe326,703, NLe224,746 and NLe216,535 respectively.
‘When the 9 months of revenue collection (January to September) are compared, FY 2023 revenues surpassed FY 2022 by NLe1.3 million (18%). January to September 2022 total revenue is NLe5,754,726 and January 2023 to September total revenue is NLe 7,048,994,’ he said.
Mr. Kamara noted that the National Revenue Authority has so far recorded 75.4% of the domestic revenue of the initial in all the revenue streams for the period January to September 2023.
When compared with the revised target, as per the supplementary budget, which is NLe10,561,559, the NRA has collected 66.7% from January to September 2023.
With this, the NRA will need to collect on average, NLe1,170,855 every month from October to December to be able to hit the revised target without which the NRA may not hit their revised domestic revenue target for FY2023.
On revenue streams, Mr. Kamara said Non-Tax Revenue stream is leading with 701.3% of its initial target collected, the Treasury Single Account follows with 91.6% and Taxes on International Trade and Transport contribute 86.6% in the pecking order. He however, noted that, Property Income (0.5%) and Compulsory Licenses (7.3%) revenue streams so far have been the least-performing revenue streams for the period under review.
Speaking earlier on the chairperson of the occasion, Foday Bassie Swaray, Action Aid Executive Director said the budget has the ability to address inequality in society.
‘We as civil society have the responsibility to track the budget and hold government to account and that the budget credibility is important but how credible is our budget,’ he asked.
Mr. Swaray noted that Government has the responsibility to provides services and can only be able to do that when they collect enough revenue to fund the budget.
He said the government has an ambitious program the ‘Feed Salone’ and government has also committed to collect 20 percent revenue to GDP.
The Policy Analysts at BAN Abu Bakarr Tarawally giving the overview of the report said this is an Irish Aid funded grant that support civil society.
He said the project contribute to government revenue mobilisation that looks at budget credibility.
‘It is a five year supported project that is implemented by a consortium including BAN, NMJD.
The Ministry of Finance representative Alhaji Alghali responding to the report thanked BAN for the report adding that the organisation continue to do a very good job.
He said some ten fifteen years ago there was no government account but this is now a thing of the past.
‘We now have government financial statement that is audited and that Sierra Leone is among countries that published it financial statement within the sub-region,’ Mr. Alghali said.
The Ministry of Finance representative noted that BAN intervention in the budget is helping the budget process adding that Sierra Leone has made immense gains but more needs to be done.
‘We are committed to this process in publishing our documents on the website and there are lot of reforms within the ministry. The credibility of the budget depends on the implementation and monitoring and this is where civil society comes in.
