Finance Minister to Table 2025 Budget Requesting Almost D53 Billion from Parliament
President Barrow and Finance Minister Keita © Unknown
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
Information received by Askanwi Media highlights that the Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) will table the 2025 Draft Budget tomorrow 15th November 2024 requesting Parliamentary approval for over D52.9 Billion in expenditure. Last year, Parliamentarians approved a total expenditure of D42 Billion while only D21 Billion was actually spent in 2023.
After Finance Minister, Hon. Seedy Keita tables the 2025 Draft Budget tomorrow, Parliamentarians will immediately attend a Pre-Budget Retreat concluding on 18th November. From then, parliamentary committees will conduct budget bilaterals with portfolio ministries and other stakeholders from 19th to 23rd November. The debates on the 2025 Draft Budget will then take center stage, concluding with the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech on 13th December when the Appropriation Bill will also be tabled.
According to the Summary of All Funds, Expenditure and Net Lending will exceed D47.4 Billion while Revenue and Grants is expected to exceed D44.7 Billion, leaving a Budget Deficit of D2.6 Billion. Compared to the previous year, Parliament approved Expenditure and Net Lending totaling D39 Billion, while Revenue of D34 Billion was approved to be collected, leaving a Budget Deficit of D4.4 Billion.
GLF Revenue Declined in 2023
The above data is for All Funds which includes GLF Revenue, Loans and Grants. According to the Overview of Revenue, Grants and Financing the Government plans to raise D29 Billion in GLF Revenue next year with D21 Billion set to come from Taxes while D7.9 Billion is expected from Non-Tax sources. In addition, the Government expects to receive over D15 Billion in Budget Support for projects and programmes it plans to implement in 2025. Meanwhile a Loan Drawndown of over D8 Billion is expected to increase the total Revenue, Grants and Financing to over D52.9 Billion in 2025.
Looking at the chart above shows that the highest Total Revenue collected by the Government over the last five years is D21.9 Billion with that number decreasing consistently to D21.2 Billion in 2023. Even though GLF Revenue declined consistently down to D16.8 Billion in 2023, the Government is still planning on raising over D29 Billion from GLF Revenue in 2025.
Over D11 Billion Going to Debt
Turning our attention to government expenditure, it can be seen that over D11 Billion is earmarked for Debt, while over D19.6 Billion is earmarked for Development. On the other hand over D22 Billion will be spent on Recurrent Expenditure bringing total expenditure up to over D52.9 Billion next year.
Looking at some of the government’s actual expenditure over the past five years shows that government plans to spend almost what it spent each year on Debt from 2021 to 2023. Actual Debt Expenditure did not exceed D4.6 Billion from 2021 to 2023 but now the Government plans to spend over D11 Billion on Debt in 2025. By the end of 2023, Parliamentarians approved the Government’s plans to spend over D7.5 Billion on Debt in 2024.
Our budget research has unearthed the Government’s track record on spending on Development and Recurrent Expenditures. Over the past five years the Government continues to spend significantly more on Recurrent than on Development but this is not reflected in the Estimates and Approved figures, hinting at some sort of disconnect.
In 2021 the government actually spent over D12.3 Billion on Recurrent while only D3.8 Billion was spent on Development. Similarly, in 2022 the government spent over D13.4 Billion on Recurrent while only D2.9 Billion was spent on Development. This trend continued in 2023 when the Government spent over D15 Billion on Recurrent but only D2.4 Billion was spent on Development that year.
In contrast to this, Parliament approved for the Government to spend D17.5 Billion on Recurrent and just over D17 Billion on Development in 2024. Now the Finance Minister is set to table the 2025 Draft Budget requesting approval for over D22.3 Billion on Recurrent Expenditures and over D19.6 Billion on Development Expenditure.
Our comparative analysis between the actual Recurrent and Development Expenditures from 2021 to 2023 and the approved and estimated Recurrent and Development Expenditures for 2024 and 2025 appears to show a disconnect between the two.
