Inside the plan to balance the budget in two years

The country’s budget, or government’s financial statement of how much it receives and how much it spends, has been running shortfalls since 2017-2018. Essentially this means since that time, the government has been spending more than it receives or makes, a situation that has meant a need for more withdrawals from its reserves housed in the Government Investment Account (GIA), as well as higher borrowings from the local capital market.

Government had originally anticipated that the first three years of National Development Plan 11, from 2017-2018 to April 2019-2020, would carry deficits and the last three would first balance, then carry surpluses, helping restore the fiscal stability necessary to continue the country’s sustainable development aspirations and associated indicators such as high credit ratings.