ACCORDING TO BUDGIT Liberia, a civic organization striving to make the national budget more understandable and accessible in recent time, “Liberia’s inability to tackle most developmental challenges such as poverty, unemployment and the deplorable state of infrastructure has been primarily attributed to poor governance and lack of transparency at the different levels of government. This is worsened with the wide gap between elected officials and the electorate.” In order for Liberia’s development to thrive, elected and appointed officials need to be accountable to the citizens.
HENCE, THE CIVIC institution on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at the office of Smart Liberia, Jallah Town Road, launched the Fiscal Year 2023 Simplified Budget Book. The financial instrument, according to BudgIT Liberia’s Country Lead, Abraham Varney, is meant only to provide information on the national budget and public data as contained in the national budget, with no extra data or figures added by his organization.
CONTRIBUTING TO THE nation’s enfant democracy by analyzing the budget for the public, many of whom do not have the technical skills to do so on their own and make informed decisions concerning their government, the FY2023 Simplified Budget Book states, “The government anticipates an overall revenue of US$782.94 million this fiscal year, with an anticipated US$672.94 million coming from domestic sources, and US$110 million coming from external resources, of which $107.2 million is loan while 2.8 million is grant. Tax revenue, at US$553.61 million (82.26%), accounts for the majority of the domestic revenue, mostly from income and profit taxes, foreign trade, and goods and services. Non-tax revenue is estimated to be US$119.33 million (17.73%), primarily from property income taxes.
“THE TOTAL EXPENDITURE is estimated to be US$782.94 million, with recurrent expenditure accounting for US$634.90 million (81.09%), debt service accounting for $99.91 million, and public-sector investment plan accounting for very small fraction of the national budget amounting to US$148.05 million (18.91%). With a large portion of the national budget going to compensation and overhead costs year after year, there is little money left for Public Sector Investment Plan (PSIP) to implement and improve infrastructure; as a result, local businesses and foreign investment are less attracted due to poor infrastructure, such as electricity, water, and road connectivity, among other things, lowering the revenue base and potential of the economy.”
“THE BIGGEST ALLOCATION in the 2023 budget in terms of the public sector investment plan (PSIP) will mainly go to the transparency and accountability, energy and environment, and infrastructure and basic sector. While allocations to the sectors have risen, it is essential to note that equally critical social sectors such as education and health did not get a substantial boost, and the agriculture sector got zero allocation.”
