How NAMs Cut and Distributed Over D740 Million on the 2025 Budget Appropriation

Members of the Sixth Legislature © Askanwi

By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT

They say the devil is in the detail, and this is certainly the case for the 2025 Appropriation Bill. On the surface, the total Appropriation remained unchanged from the Draft 2025 Budget, which featured a total of D37,848,776,334, identical to the amount approved by Parliamentarians.

However, our comparison between the Draft and the Approved Appropriation reveals that Parliamentarians cut over D740 million from the appropriation from seven budget lines and distributed them to thirteen different budget lines.

Budget Lines with Deductions

Our calculations show that the biggest cuts came from the Independent Electoral Commission (-36.6%), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (-18.7), and the Judiciary (-8.9%). This is followed by deductions to the Ministry of Public Service (-7.6%), the Office of the President (-3.5%), the Ministry of Finance (-3.1%), and finally the National Audit Office (-1.8%). The table below shows how much each budget line was deducted in absolute dalasi amounts.

All figures in Dalasi © Askanwi

Over D37 Million Cut from the Office of the President

According to a Parliamentary Budget Report recommending cuts under recurrent expenditure, D10 million was to be deducted from “Electricity, Water, and Sewage” under the Office of the President, which planned to spend D25 million in 2025. D5 million was recommended for deduction from the Meet the People’s Tour, which initially stood at D50 million, and D2 million from “Rents and Rates” amongst other deductions.

A significant number of deductions totalling D1 million each were recommended to be removed from various budget lines under the Office of the President, namely, Maintenance of Buildings and Facilities, Social Expenses, Office Equipment, Motorbikes & Bicycles, and Medals & Insignias. More deductions less than D1 million were also recommended under recurrent expenditure.

The development budget also featured deductions under the Office of the President, with D10 million being deducted from Maintenance of Buildings and Facilities, D3 million from vehicles, and D3 million from operating costs, which were earmarked to be transferred to the National Disaster Management Agency, while another D2 million was recommended for deduction from furniture and fittings.

Over D77 Million Deducted from Ministry of Finance and D109 Million Deducted from the IEC

For the Ministry of Finance, the majority of the deductions were recommended to come from Other Equity Participation (D49.474 million) and D10 million in operating costs, with another D4 million recommended to be deducted from Research and Development. These recommendations came from the Development Budget.

The recurrent budget for the Ministry of Finance featured some recommendations for deductions from “Electricity, Water and Sewage” (3 million), Maintenance of Buildings and Facilities (D3 million) and another D3 million in printing expenses which planned to spend a huge D43 million in 2025.

Turning our attention to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), it can be seen that a whopping D57 million worth of vehicles was recommended for deduction, D20 million from miscellaneous office expenses under Referendum, and over D7.5 million from training also under Referendum, amongst others. Meanwhile, D22 million worth of vehicles was recommended for deduction from the IEC’s Development Budget, which planned to spend a whopping D57.1 million on vehicles in 2025. This appears to be a duplication, as vehicles featured in both the IEC’s recurrent and development budget, making it a proposed D114.2 million, which was cut down by a total of D79.2 million.

Over D440 Million Deducted from Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Parliamentarians cut over D440 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with most of it recommended to come from vehicles (D421 million) earmarked for reallocation to Centralised Services. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs planned to spend an astronomical D436 million on vehicles in 2025.

The numbers don’t add up because additions were also made to the same ministry. However, the Parliamentary Budget Report recommended that D8 million should be deducted from Exchange Concession Allowance (ECA) under the Embassy in Nouakchott, which was a recurring trend.

Parliamentarians recommended cutting D9.5 million in ECA from the Embassy of New Delhi, D10.5 million in ECA from the Embassy of Madrid, D11.4 million in ECA from the Embassy of Ankara, D9.3 million in ECA from the Embassy of Doha, and D8.1 million in ECA from the Embassy of Dubai. 

Budget Lines with Additions

Looking at budget entities that benefitted the most from additions shows that the Ministry of Higher Education (36.7%), Centralized Services (25.1%), and the Office of the Ombudsman (17.7%) gained the most. This is followed by additions to the Ministry of Defence (8.8%), the Ministry of Information (8%), and the Ministry of Transport (3.6%). The absolute amounts added to each institution are shown in the table below.

All figures in Dalasi © Askanwi

The next publication will highlight where the biggest additions went.