Mmegi

Deficit due to drop; more spending cuts due

Brainstorming: The Finance Ministry’s technocrats are holding budget meetings with various ministries and balancing requests with forecasts and priorities
Brainstorming: The Finance Ministry’s technocrats are holding budget meetings with various ministries and balancing requests with forecasts and priorities

Finance ministry technocrats expect the deficit for the current financial year to come in at P9.2 billion, rather than the original forecast of P22.1 billion, but more tightening of the fiscus is required going forward as the outlook for diamonds remains weak.

The insights are contained in the Budget Strategy Paper released this week. The annual research and estimates document is usually released in September and is a blueprint of the policies, numbers, and priorities underpinning the next budget.

This year, the paper is coming just weeks before the budget statement, due in early February, amidst reports that technocrats have been battling to crunch numbers, especially forecasts, as well as infuse the new administration’s policies into the budget development process.

Editor's Comment
Commitment by DPP to fight corruption welcome

Whilst many citizens put trust in their leaders that they are tackling one of the worst curses that can befall a country, the public has lost trust after all the cases seemed not to go anywhere.As the saying goes, ‘corruption is a cancer that eats away at the fabric of society’; corruption affects effective governance.Corruption affects delivery of services to the public and also crumbles most systems meant to assist citizens who are very...

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