Moupo on the budget

 
* Introduction

Before dealing with substantive issues raised by the Minister in the Budget Speech, I wish to raise certain general issues some of which I did raise last year but were not satisfactorily responded to. The first one is that of the huge foreign exchange reserves that we keep in foreign banks. While it is understandable both for the purpose of financing the import of goods and services and for reasons of economic prudence that substantial foreign exchange reserves should always be kept, it does not seem to make any economic sense to keep such excessive amounts of money idle in foreign banks. The huge challenges of development that we face necessitate the use of at least part of funds to finance development projects or for productive investment.