Finance Ministry pushes for revenue centralisation

At present, various ministries and departments across central and local government collect revenue and exercise control over expenditure to varying degrees. For years, most of these organs have pressured the finance ministry for greater autonomy over their budgets, which has been granted in some cases, most notably the Botswana Police Service.

However, government is tightening the belt ahead of anticipated declines in revenues due in National Development Plan 11 (NDP 11), through measures such as prioritisation of spending into high return projects, application of cost-benefit tests and elimination of wastage, particularly in recurrent spending.