Viana Kakuli, the Finance and Investment Minister of Central Equatoria State, presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023/2024 to the state parliament on Monday.
The budget, totalling 20,190,694,751 South Sudanese Pounds, aims to address various expenditures, including Salaries and Wages, Use of Goods and Services, Capital Expenditure, and other related costs.
Kakuli outlined the allocation of funds as follows: 35% (6,991,935,493 SSP) for Salaries and Wages, 36% (7,353,643,117 SSP) for Use of Goods and Services, and 26% (5,221,030,875 SSP) for Capital Expenditure. Additionally, 3% (624,085,266 SSP) was earmarked for Conditional Operational Transfers to Counties and Service Delivering Units.
During the budget presentation, Kakuli explained that the 20 billion budget would be financed through two sources: National government grants and State Owned Revenue.
“National Grants amount to 11,372,878,765 SSP, constituting 56% of the Resources Envelope, and (b) State Owned Revenue amounts to 8,817,815,986 SSP (Eight Billion Eight Hundred Seventeen Million Eight Hundred Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-six South Sudanese Pounds), constituting 44% of the Total Resource Envelope in the FY 2023/2024 budget,” stated Kakuli.
Minister Kakuli, while explaining the allocations of the Resource Envelope across various spending areas, highlighted an increase in the workforce due to the implementation of new emoluments and privileges for constitutional post holders.
“The implementation of new emoluments and privileges for constitutional post holders has led to an increase in salaries and wages,” she explained. Kakuli further noted, “The general workforce has grown from 23,582 in FY 2022/2023 to 23,867 in FY 2023/2024, reflecting an increase of 285.”
She also expressed concern about the rise in the Use of Goods and Services. “The spending on security challenges faced by the State has resulted in an increase in the Use of Goods and Services,” added Finance Minister Kakuli.
“This is in addition to expenditures on travel, provision of fuel and lubricants, settlement of medical bills, procurement of office equipment, and materials essential for the government’s operations. It also includes allocations for peace consolidation missions to the counties and neighbouring countries,” she clarified.
The minister urged parliamentarians to thoroughly discuss the proposed budget and ensure its approval.
Upon receiving the proposed budget, Peter Wani Kulang, Speaker of the state parliament, referred it to the Finance Committee for scrutiny and requested them to retable it after 21 days.
“I, therefore, refer this budget to the Finance Committee for scrutiny. As per the house procedure, the committee is given 21 days to thoroughly review this budget,” Kulang stated.
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