๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ก.
Members of Parliament (MPs) have unanimously approved the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2023, authorising expenditure of Three Billion, Six Hundred and Eighty-Five Million, Five Hundred and Nine-Four Thousand, Seven Hundred Leones (Le 3,685,594,700) from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the services of Sierra Leone 2023.
On December 20, 2022, the House of Parliament approved the original Government Budget and statement of economic policies laid in the House on November 11, 2022, during the tenure of the immediate former Minister of Finance, and led to the commencement of the implementation of the budget in January 2023, according to the current Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura.
But after six months of implementing the budget, Mr Bangura said: โWe saw the need to revise the 2023 fiscal frameworkโ because the macroeconomic assumptions on which the original revenue and expenditure projections were based โno longer hold.โ
โThe original 2023 budget was based on the macroeconomic framework agreed with the IMF during the fifth review of our performance under the ongoing programme with the IMF Extended Credit Facility in November 2022,โ Mr Bangura said during his speech to MPs in the Well of Parliament on Monday.
He revealed that the microeconomic framework was revised during the combined sixth and seventh reviews in May 2023, which formed the basis of the revenue and expenditure projections in this Supplementary Budget.
The Minister also told MPs that some activities implemented by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were not sufficiently budgeted for due mainly to the limited fiscal space. He added that new expenditure pressures have emerged, driven in some cases by policy pronouncements as well as the continued global rise in prices of goods and services, and the depreciation of the Leone.
โThere is, therefore, the need to enhance budget allocations to some MDAs to realistic but affordable levels for the delivery of services,โ he told MPs.
Also, the Minister told MPs that there is a need to align the Budget to the new priorities of the Government articulated in the Government Manifesto (The Big Five), which included food security, consolidating the gains in human capital development, supporting youth employment initiatives, improving infrastructure, and revamping the public service.
