By: Mohamed Sahr
Ministry of Finance explained government’s plans on economic reforms during a press briefing held last week at the Ministry’s headquarters in Freetown.
Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, Minister of Finance said the Government of Sierra Leone remains committed to foster healthy financial structure for a successful fiscal year.
He mentioned that the Ministry’s deliberate effort to call for a supplementary budget was to maintain a transparent financial mandate; adding that even though the entire world is experiencing financial crisis, but the Ministry stood its ground to pass the Annual Budget Allocation at the well of Parliament sometimes last year. “The assumption upon which the 2022 annual budget allocation was designed had shifted and changed, and as such the budget needs to be revised for this year,” Minister of Finance said.
He furthered that the supplementary budget was based on the Macro Framework of the existing 2022 budget allocation. Finance Minister said the fact that causes potential ways for revenue generation has recently changed as a result of the persistent war in Ukraine. Bangura catalogued the second factor of which has affected the rise in the price of commodities globally. “This has led to the 2022 budget allocation to be more idealistic,” he reaffirmed.
He added that the third factor was to re-enforce the Government to create a chance in order to recalibrate a budget that would seamlessly maintains foreign missions and successfully caters to what is in the new manifesto of President Bio administration.
Minister of Financial continued that the new Finance Act has certain tax measures that are bordered around closing the loopholes in the tax handle especially with corporate tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST).
He assured Sierra Leoneans that when the fiscal considerations are fully implemented the country will experience a reasonable economic growth of about 4.78 percent of GDP next year.
Madam Jeneba Bangura, Deputy Minister of Financial said the Ministry is quite well aware of the policy and demand around the Special Drawing Right (SDR) allocation; emphasizing that one of the things IMF recommended the country was to increase their revenue base through new tax reforms.
She revealed that the Ministry is conscious about the full implement of some of these tax reforms.