Photo credit: Loop PNG - Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey
Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey claims that budget repair enabled the government to reach its income and finance objectives while also keeping spending under control in last year's budget.
In presenting the Final Budget Outcome (FBO) for 2021, Ling-Stuckey said that the budget deficit was preserved at K6.3 billion, down from the K6.6 billion predicted and that spending was increased by K20 billion owing to more outstanding donor funds.
Higher tax collections and donor funds provided K13.9 billion in income.
“As a share of our GDP (gross domestic product), the deficit drops from 8.9 per cent of GDP in 2020 down to 6.7 per cent in 2021. A reduction of over K1bil from the K7bil in 2020,” Ling-Stuckey said.
“By international standards, this is an extraordinary turnaround in just one year – an improvement of 2.2 percentage points of GDP, more than double what would be regarded internationally as a reasonable rate of repair.
“Budget repair and reconstruction build international credibility.”
The government got K4.9 billion in solid, low-cost overseas funding, according to the Treasurer.
“Our constructive, open and transparent international engagements also led to a major increase in international grant support.
“We budgeted for K1bil in international grant support in 2021 and received K2.1bil, more than double. An extra K1 billion in grant support.”.
Reference: The National (22 April 2022). “Govt met revenue targets: Treasurer”.
