As the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Tuesday passed the 2024/25 fiscal year budget to its third reading stage, parliamentarians expressed concern about how the deficits will be financed, with some demanding answers from the finance ministry.
The 2024/2025 budget projected envelope is SSP 4.1trillion with a deficit of SSP 1.9
Michael Ayuen Johnson, chairperson of the Specialized Committee on Finance and Planning, said the current deficit stands at the tune of 46 percent of the whole budget, with no clear ways of financing the gap.
“This deficit is alarming and has a negative impact on the resource envelope,” he stated. “Nonetheless, the minister of finance and planning did not state clearly in his speech before the August House how he will solicit funds from credible lenders to finance this huge budget deficit.”
The finance committee also demanded to know the sources of financing for the 2023/2024 budget deficit.
“The committee noted that the budget deficit of SSP 267,050,998,162 for 2023/24, which was 12.3 percent had been financed as the outturn shows SSP 2.4 trillion, a difference of SSP 297.6 billion,” Ayuen said.
For his part, Lomude Francis, the Acting Chief Whip of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), appealed that the 2024/2025 budget should not be unimplemented like the one for 2023/24, where civil servants and organized forces went for 11 months without pay. He appealed to parliament to fast-track the passing of what he termed a post-mortem to allow the country to move forward.
“Madam Speaker, it is important that parliament fast-tracks the passing of this post-mortem budget that came to the parliament late,” he said. “This August House approved a budget and the whole civil service and organized forces went for 11 months without salaries. It is an area of concern and we want to urge the finance minister to ensure that it should not be the same this financial year.”
According to Lomude, the finance ministry should have presented an expenditure report to parliament before presenting the new budget, and the previous budget should have been audited.
Responding to the lawmaker’s concerns, Finance Minister Marial Dongrin Ater requested more time to prepare the performance of the last year’s budget.
“My predecessor had submitted quarters one and two for budget execution to this house and it is on record that he was scheduled to table it but he was removed,” he said. “We have discussed with the leadership of this house when it should be tabled. The report for quarter three is also ready for tabling.”
Regarding the budget deficit, the finance minister said the government intends to bridge the gap with resources from Nile Blend Crude oil and also loans and grants from international lenders, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF).