By Sulaiman Jalloh
Sierra Leone’s Vice President Dr. Mohammed Juldeh Jalloh has on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at the new Brookfields hotel in Freetown launched the Fiscal Year 2025 national policy hearing and bilateral budget discussion with MDAs and stakeholders.
Vice President Jalloh delivering the keynote address started by thanking the ministry of finance for something he referred to as a tremendous effort to stabilise the economy over the years including the dollar exchange rate, noting that the government has allowed an extraordinary measure to allow the bank to use the Leones to purchase goods and services.
“In the last few months have been able to stabilise the price of essential commodities,” he stated while asking the ministry of Trade to develop a pricing monitoring formula.
He said that there is a good relationship between the government of Sierra Leone and the government of France and that the African country is now qualified for loan from the French government.
The vice president added that he was expecting bridge budgeting into the country’s economy. According to him, the SLPP government has done extremely well in health, human capital development, and energy amongst others. “We need to drastically reduce the energy support to the energy sector” Dr. Juldeh Jalloh alluded, pointing out that the government wants to see effective monitoring.
Speaking on ‘Feed Salone,’ he said that the initiative seeks to increase domestic food production, stating that the agriculture sector is a huge player to increasing employment in the country. He noted that there is a job creation strategy for the young people and that the strategy is expected to be launched by the President in a few months. According to the VP, climate financing plays a crucial role in improving the country’s budget and revenue generation. He maintained that the government is in good trajectory while appealing for more support to the ministry of information and civic education and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) among other MDAs.
Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura said that the country has been rebasing the GDP and that since 2018, Sierra Leone had a larger economy but noted that it has been shifted. “We are accounting for everybody contributing into the economy while encouraging the usage of something he called growth statistics. He said the government is focusing on a transformative agenda on food security and human capital development and that since 2018 the government of President Bio has invested hugely on human capital development. He added that the inflation rate has gone down to about 23%, emphasizing the impact of external pricing.
According to minister Bangura, this year’s finance bill will focus on efficiency and will improve on compliance, saying tax compliance has been very poor in the country. “We will limit externalities on certain products” he lamented, stressing that the 2025 budget will aim to address the many challenges on cost of living, pointing out that the fiscal framework and the national development plan will enhance revenue mobilization.
Hon. Kai Samba, the chairman of the finance committee in Parliament explained the role of Parliament in budget process said their role as legislators is to approve and conduct an oversight citing sections 105, 106.1 Act No 6 of the 1991 constitution of Sierra Leone, saying the FY2025 will improve the government Big Five game changers.
Other speakers included representatives from the civil society and minister of planning and economic development. Abubakarr Kamara of the Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) while thanking the government for the invitation extended to his organisation said that BAN will continue to contribute into the national budget discussion. “As Civil Society, we play a crucial role in advancing policy discussion” he asserted, noting they will lobby for Laws that will advance the country’s economy. Kamara called on the government to increase and advance gender budgeting something he said women have good ideas to contribute to the budget discussion.