WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM?
The government is poised to purchase and distribute 230,000 bags of rice and sugar respectively and 148,000 drums of ten litre oil to distribute to the needy.
Many Gambians have been demanding that the government should complement the efforts of those who are distributing rice and oil.
The government however has three sources of income, namely, taxation, non – tax revenue, grants and loans.
In the last Press Conference of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank in February 2020, it was indicated that the domestic debt of the country was put at approximately 32.9 billion dalasi. The total debt of the Country is put at 71 billion by the Minister of Finance in his budget speech for the 2020 financial year.
Tax revenue for 2020 is put at 11 .6 Billion Dalasi. Grant inflow is expected to be 13.4 Billion.
Expenditure is expected to exceed revenue by 3.9 Billion dalasi thus requiring the government to engage in domestic borrowing.
Foroyaa will find out where the government is going to derive the income to pay for the bags of oil and rice and the drums of oil in the face of contraction in tax collection. Any supplementary budget in the face of revenue contraction will have to rely on grants or domestic borrowing to be financed or money from non-tax sources which is small.
