Civil society on Monday welcomed the 2011 Budget speech delivered by Finance and Development Minister, Kenneth Matambo, but said more ground still needs to be covered.
Members of the civil society said they were pleased that government seems to have realized the imperative for more domestic funding.
BOCCIM executive secretary, Maria Machailo Ellis, said she was satisfied with the budget with the low budget deficit. She said it was pleasing to note that the government has set aside lots of money from the development budget towards infrastructure development.
“This is a good base for private sector development. The intention by the government to accelerate involvement of the private sector is a positive move. We hope this won’t be a PR exercise. We don’t see a deliberate strategy to rescue SMMEs from the economic crisis,” said Machailo-Ellis. BOCCIM has previously complained about excess liquidity.
All the same, she regretted that the minister made no mention of renewable energy sources. The BOCCIM executive secretary said it was a concern that government is channeling P100 million realized from the alcohol levy towards poverty eradication.
“The government should look more from its own revenue resources in its endeavour to fight poverty,” she argues. Of concern to her too was that the country has moved from zero debt level to high debt level.
“The minister did not articulate debt levels but referred the nation to the website. We should not be afraid to disclose information of this nature. The minister spoke about the new tax reforms. Investors need information about corporate tax reduction,” she said.
For his part, CEDA chief executive officer, Thabo Thamane, said it was pleasing that government sees private sector involvement as a key engine of growth.
“At CEDA we are looking for viable projects. We need to partner with the private sector not to compete with it. CEDA wants to create an enabling environment for SMMEs to actually thrive. The budget was deliberate on high growth strategy from a low key one,” said Thamane.
BOCONGO chairman, Pastor Biggie Butale, welcomed the exemption of farming implements from VAT and said the same gesture should have been extended to the rural poor citizens for water consumption.
“We are surprised that the budget deficit remains high. We had expected the deficit to be low because of the diamond recovery,” said Butale.
Budget Allocations
Total Revenue and Grants
34.1 billion
Recurrent Budget
P30.35 billion
Ministry of Education, Skills and Development
P8.7 billion
Ministry of Local Government
P3.8 billion
Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security
P3.68 billion
Ministry of Health
P3.5 billion
Ministry of Transport and Communications
P1.5 billion
The rest of other ministries
P2.15 billion
Statutory budget
P4.6 billion
Development Budget
P10.77 billion
Construction of Roads and Airports
P2.13 billion
Local Government Projects
P1.4 billion
Construction of Morupole Power “B” Power Station
P800 million
Emergency Power Generation Project
P500 million
Water Planning and Development
P942 million
Major Villages Water Supply
P119 million
HIV/AIDS Programme
P981 million
Total Expenditure and Net Lending
P41.03 billion
Overall Balance
P6.93 billion deficit
