09 Apr 2017

Parliament’s budget session that started in February came to an end on April 7 after MPs approved the 2017/18 national budget and passed several Bills.

Presenting the budget at the beginning of the session, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo proposed a total expenditure of P59.54 billion, out of which P39.66 billion had been earmarked for recurrent and P16.52 billion to be spent on development projects.

The 2017/18 budget had a deficit of P2.35 billion or 1.45 per cent of GDP.

Other than the budget, Parliament also passed several Bills, among them the Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill, Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, Immigration (Amendment) Bill, Presidents (Pensions and Retirement Benefits) (Amendment) Bill and Emergency

Water Security and Efficiency International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Loan Authorisation) Bill.

The Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill, presented by the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi, prescribed the number of judges of the Court of Appeal following a High Court ruling by Justice Abednico Tafa.

It also validated the appointment of the judges and their judgments.

As for the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, Minister Matambo said the objective was to give the mining companies an opportunity to opt out of the Tax Agreement they had with government to the 12th Schedule of the Income Tax.

Work and residence permits had been eased and the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu said the objective of the Immigration (Amendment) Bill was to empower the minister to grant the status of permanent residence to foreign investors who have lived in Botswana for less than five years.

He also said under the amendment, the status may also be extended to non-citizen investor’s spouse and minor children.

Minister Kgathi said the Presidents (Pensions and Retirement Benefits) (Amendment) Bill allowed the retired president to continue enjoying his pension while he was employed elsewhere.

Further, it allowed the retired president access to any mode of transport whenever the need arises.

The Emergency Water Security and Efficiency Project (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) (Loan Authorisation) Bill authorised government to secure a loan amounting to P1.5 billion from the subsidiary company of the World Bank to address the water crisis situation prevailing in most parts of the country. ENDS