2. Mr Speaker, the preparation of these budget proposals coincided with the Mid-Term Review of NDP 10.Therefore some of the issues that I shall report on today have been covered in the Plan Review document, which has been discussed at length during my Ministry‟s consultative processes through National Stakeholder Conferences, briefing of Ntlo ya Dikgosi and Members of Parliament, in October and November 2012.
3. As in previous years, my Ministry developed a Budget Strategy Paper whose aim was to inform the content and context of the budget proposals for the financial year 2013/14. The Paper was shared extensively during consultative processes that I have already alluded to and is readily accessible on my Ministry‟s website. The Paper was prepared amidst uncertainties regarding prospects of both the global and domestic economy. Such uncertainties led to constrained demand for, and a decline in prices of diamonds in the global market. Hence revenues available to Government are expected to decline in the medium to long-term. This puts pressure on Government to be more cautious in determining its expenditure profile in the short to medium term.
