BY: MOHAMED SAHR
The official launch of “A Citizen’s Guide to the National Budget 2024,” with the theme “Restoring Macroeconomic Stability while Protecting the Poor and Vulnerable,” took place at the headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone. During the event, Minister of Finance Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura pledged to restore economic growth and trust in 2024.
Bangura acknowledged the sustainable impacts of global pandemics on Sierra Leone’s micro and macroeconomic operations, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to responding to these shocks through policy interventions and digital innovations.
The Minister projected economic growth of 4.7 percent in 2024 and 5.2 percent in 2025, driven by increased investment in agriculture, mining, and the ongoing recovery in the services sector. He highlighted the government’s focus on selected activities such as improving food productivity, advancing free quality school education, and enhancing healthcare and sanitation.
Addressing the fiscal challenges, Bangura stressed the importance of striking a balance between revenue efforts and expenditure management to reduce the budget deficit and government borrowing. He emphasized the need for fiscal discipline to create space for increased spending on government priorities.
Bangura urged ministries, departments, and agencies to intensify domestic revenue collection and effectively manage government expenditures to achieve the required balance. He outlined tax policy measures aimed at benefiting the poor and vulnerable, including harmonizing withholding tax rates, adjusting GST registration thresholds, and increasing excise duties on petroleum products.
The Minister highlighted the role of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) in revenue mobilization efforts, with a target to increase domestic revenue to 20 percent of GDP by 2027. He emphasized the government’s Medium-Term Revenue Strategy to enhance domestic revenue mobilization and ensure fiscal sustainability.
Bangura disclosed the projected non-salary, non-interest recurrent expenditure of NLe5.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year, along with a total projected expenditure of NLe23.5 billion, including wages, salaries, goods, services, interest payments, and subsidies. Capital expenditure for FY2024 was projected at NLe7.1 billion, equivalent to 7.0% of GDP.
Top of Form
