06 Feb 2024

 The government has over the years introduced public finance management reforms geared towards reshaping the formulation, preparation and execution of the budget.

Presenting the 2024/2025 National Budget proposals in Parliament on Monday, the Minister of Finance Ms Peggy Serame said hence there had been improvements in the efficiency gap from 37 to 31 per cent and there was still room for improvement.

Thus she said, nine agreements had been signed following the launch of the Development Manager Model to manage 143 projects at a total estimated budget of P13.05 billion.

The minister said government would also strengthen the implementation of the Three-Stage Appraisal Process to ensure project that were planned for NDP 12 were thoroughly screened before inclusion in both the plan and the budget. Ms Serame further said Zero-Based budgeting and Budget Options approach continued to be enhanced in order to improve the costing of budgetary requirements by ministries, departments and agencies especially for the operational budget which took up over 70 per cent of the national budget.

“The reforms seeks to among others, moderate the gap between the projected revenue envelope and expenditure priorities, through cost containment and revenue maximization initiatives,” she said.

Talking about tax, she said the review of tax laws was on course adding however this had taken more time than planned due to a few factors ranging from the complexity of the exercise, the levels of consultation involved and the ever-changing international tax environment.

Minister Serame said the objective of the review was to consolidate, simplify and modernize the existing Income Tax Act to deal with evolving nature of the business environment in the global economy.

She said the review would further provide an opportunity to rationalize various concessions under the Value Added Tax Act, harmonise the administrative provisions under the Income Tax Act and enact a new Tax Administrative Act. The minister said Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) was implementing Electronic Invoicing for efficient VAT collection.

She said the tax collection and administration agency was also implementing a solution to digitally mark and track excisable goods and the digital solution would be fully implemented by July this year.

BURS was also optimizing its e-services; online tax filing systems, online customs declarations, electronic payment as they simplify tax compliance for individuals and businesses, fostering a business friendly environment and encouraging investment.

The minster also said the One Stop Border Post in Kazungula had been fully operationalized and it would cover other critical borders at Mamuno and Pioneer Gate while Tlokweng and Ramatlabama would follow in the coming years.

Meanwhile the minster said public debt levels remained within the statutory debt ceiling of 40 per cent of GDP, although it has slightly increased in the recent past.

She said as at the end of December 2023, total external debt to GDP was 9.5 per cent, while domestic debt stood at 10 per cent, making a total debt exposure of 20.2 per cent of GDP.

The minister said the medium-term risk of debt distress remained low.

She said in order to improve the domestic capital markets, the Government Borrowing Strategy and Issuance Calendar for the financial year 2023/2024 was unveiled in 2023.

The purpose of the strategy is to provide domestic market participants with a more secure basis for making future investment decisions. ends