Mining slump sparks gov’t revenue debate
Friday, July 12, 2024 | 180 Views |
Making decisions: The Ministry of Finance is keenly looking at numbers emerging from the mining sector
According to the 2024/25 forecasts from the Finance Ministry, mineral revenues were expected to provide about 27% of budget revenues for the financial year, at an estimated P25.2 billion. Mineral revenues comprise taxes, royalties and dividends on the various mining and mining-related activities taking place in the country.
As with other years, diamond mining was expected to provide the bulk of these revenues, with fiscal authorities hoping that the sector would shrug off the deep slump seen in the second half of last year.
When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...