By: Kebba AF Touray
The Ministry of Finance has revealed that over D20 billion has been allocated to eleven critical sectors of the country, as total revenue is expected to increase in 2024.
Seedy Keita said these allocations, as highlighted in the Citizens’ Budget 2024, is meant to finance the development activities of these sectors in terms of providing services to the citizenry.
The sectors as outlined in the Citizens’ Budget 2024 includes, but not limited to Education, Health, Agriculture, Transport, and the Petroleum and Energy sectors respectively.
On the Education Sector:
The Minister indicated that a total of D6.40 billion has been allocated to this sector, with D4.66 billion allocated to Basic Education and D1.74 to other areas indicating 15 percent of the allocation, which includes debt service charges for the 2024 approved budget.
“This allocation is meant to finance the activities of the sector such as construction of 775 new classrooms, and 1,030 toilet cubicles with facilities for the physically challenged students,” the Minister said.
On Health:
As per this sector, the Minister stated that a total of D3.80 billion equivalent to the approved budget has been allocated to the sector, and outlined that the allocation is meant to finance the activities that focus on primary healthcare, efficient service delivery, a well-trained health workforce and a robust health infrastructure.
On Agriculture:
“The agriculture sector has received a total of D2.56 billion equivalent to 6 percent of the 2024 approved budget, and it is aimed to finance activities such as support for organic fertilizer and seeds for farmers. This is aimed at making agricultural inputs more affordable for farmers, to boost their productivity,” the Minister said.
On the transport sector:
The Minister unveiled that a budget of D4.24 billion or 10 percent approved budget, is allocated to the sector for the implementation of it activities, and that these activities of the Transport Ministry for which the allocation was made includes but is not limited to the completion of urban roads related to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) projects amounting to D135 million.
“It is also to finance the completion of the Nuimi-Hakalang road project amounting to D171.96 Million,” the Minister said.
On petroleum and energy:
The government as revealed by the Minister of Finance, intends to allocate an amount of D5.23 Billion approximately 12 percent of the approved budget to the sector.
“This is to help the sector implement its activities such as ongoing electricity access projects covering over 800 communities, in order to achieve universal access by the end 2025,” the Finance Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Seedy Keita, said total revenue and grants are expected to increase to Thirty-Four Billion, Nine Hundred and Thirty-Two Million, Seven Hundred and Thirty-Five Thousand Dalasi (D34, 932,735,000.00).
Minister Keita said this on the 2024 Citizen’s Budget, which document the Ministry in collaboration with CSOs held a dialogue on to enable the people know what is contained in the financial situation of the Gambia in the 2024 fiscal year. Minister Keita also indicated that total expenditure and net lending is projected to increase slightly by 6 percent from D37.15 billion in 2023, to D39.38 billion in 2024, and said Gambia’s economy is forecasted to continue its recovery at a slower pace, with real GDP growth expected at 5.6 percent in 2023. He said this is attributed to the spillover effects from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the rising interest rates to counter inflation. He projected that the agriculture sector is expected to rebound with a growth rate of 8.3 percent, driven by fishing and crop production and that industry particularly the electricity and construction sectors, is expected to grow by 7.4 percent, and will be supported by improved supply chain conditions. The service sector, Minister Keita said is also expected to have a subdued recovery at 3.5 percent and will mainly be driven by tourism and the wholesale and retail trade.
“Transparency and accountability are important components of governance. As such, effectively informing the citizenry about government’s intentions is relevant to national development. In this regard, the government of the Gambia has taken the initiative to prepare and summarize the national budget into a document that can be easily understood by the citizens. The government of the Gambia remains committed to budget transparency and accountability through continuous engagements with the citizenry. We believe that as we work together, we will jointly deliver on our joint mandate to the people,” Finance Minister Keita said.
