The National Budget for the 2017/2018 financial year will aim to consolidate its fiscal stance and align expenditure with revenue.
Speaking at Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein said that the Namibian economy had to deal with many challenges in the previous year.
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We had to deal with weak commodity prices, a slow global economy, slow economies of neighbouring countries and the drought,” said Schlettwein.
The budget has been set in a way of addressing key national priorities. One of these priorities includes dealing with poverty.
The total public expenditure is budgeted at 62.5 billion Namibian dollars (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) for 2017/2018, which represents an increase of 1.7 percent from the revised 2016/2017 budget which was 61.5 billion Namibian dollars (4.73 billion U.S. dollars).
The Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare received 3.3 billion Namibian dollars (254 million U.S. dollars). Of this amount, 2.4 billion Namibian dollars (185 million U.S. dollars) is aimed at providing for old-age pensions, which will increase by 100 Namibian dollars (7.7 U.S. dollars) to 1200 Namibian dollars (92 U.S. dollars) per month per senior citizen.
Other priorities ear-marked by the government include education, housing (mass land servicing and mass housing project) and using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to improve infrastructure development.
The Education sector benefited the most in the budget allocation, as the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture received 12 Billion Namibian dollars (923 million U.S. dollars) while the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation received 3.1 Billion Namibian dollars (238 million U.S. dollars).
The Ministry of Health and Social Services was allocated 6.5 billion Namibian dollars (500 million U.S. dollars) while 5 billion Namibian dollars (385 million U.S. dollars) was allocated to the Ministry of Safety and Security, encompassing both the Police and the Correctional Service.
Inflation which was measured at 6.4 percent at the end of 2016 is projected to be at 8.3 percent for 2017. The Finance minister attributed this high projection to both food and fuel prices.
The Namibian economy which is a slow and open economy is expected to grow at 2.5 percent this year compared to its 1.3 percent growth of 2016. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
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