27 Feb 2014

The Minister of Finance and Development Planning has requested Parliament to approve 2014/15 budget amounting to P862 million (P861 817 087), of which P758 million (P758 240 720) is for recurrent and P104 million (P103 576 367) is for development budget.

When presenting the budget estimates, the Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Vincent Seretse said the amount represented a decrease of P70.5 million over the revised budget for 2013/14 financial year due to the exclusion of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) development budget.

He said this was after the organisation was allowed to retain 2 per cent and 1 per cent of total revenue collections to cater for its recurrent and development budget respectively. Mr Seretse said the recurrent budget does not include the amount authorised for Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme as a once-off expenditure item.

Of the total recurrent budget, P481 million (P480 665 470) or 63.4 per cent of the total budget would be allocated to the ministry headquarters. Mr Seretse said the budget had increased by 10 per cent over the current financial year to cater for external official trips which need an additional P2 million, services charges as tariffs have been increased by providers requiring extra P1.5 million and an amount of P10 million to cater for vehicles and plant maintenance.

The assistant minister said minor works need additional P2.6 million, additional P3 million is required for training and Southern African Development Community (SADC) funding needs additional P3.6 million.

He said a further increase of P8 million (P8 157 870) is required for Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) intended to cover the costs of four new positions that have been added to the structure.

The amount is also intended for IPMS training and consultative workshops by the Works Division, strategic partnership, capacity building workshops, site visits to monitor progress of projects based on tenders awarded by the Board, advertising and promotion and archiving costs due to lack of space, he said.

Mr Seretse said additional P12 million (P11 795 690) is needed for Statistics Botswana for staff gratuities, office rental and assets insurance. The Office of Accountant General is to be allocated P181 million (P180 792 340) to cater for increased utility tariffs, intensification of security in the revenue offices as well as to cater for an increase in security officers’ rate of pay during 2013/14.

It would also cover the costs of Interest and Exchange account, a central account used to pay compounded interest charges held by Office of Accountant General in respect of Guardian Fund, Special Funds and bank charges for all government accounts held in commercial banks.

The assistant minister said P80 million (P80 902 080) is for the Department of Supply and the remaining P16 million (P15 880 830) is allocated to Financial Intelligence Agency. Its budget has been lowered as the structure is not yet in place.

Talking about the development budget, Mr Seretse said the ministry is to spend P47 million on consultancies and research, P32 million on facilities and P24 million on the ministry’s computerisation.

The P32 million facilities budget is to be spent on construction of revenue office and staff houses in Shakawe, Charleshill and Hukuntsi at P10 million, P9 million and P9 million respectively. Construction of staff houses for Machaneng Revenue Office is estimated at P4 million. ENDS