Parliament Endorses State Bi-Annual Expenditure Report With Amendments
The Eastern Equatoria State Parliamentary Committee of Economic Development, Finance and Public Accounts led by Toby Xavier Lotto has approved the state bi-annual expenditure for July to December 2012. 24 February 2013 By Peter Lokale Nakimangole TORIT, 24 February 2013 [Gurtong] – Parliament scrutinized the expenditure report and finally approved with considerable amendments on the annual entitlement of Constitutional post holders and Members of State Legislative Assembly. The parliament approved that a proportion of state shared taxes funds of the state which is in arrears be followed up by the State Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning by exerting maximum efforts. Among the endorsed resolutions was that the state secretariat should send Monthly Financial Reports of expenditures for institutions notably state commissions which have been paid directly by or from the State Secretariat General. The house unanimously agreed that every effort be exerted by the state government to attract both national and international investors to invest in the state to encourage job creation. The house noted that performances of the state spending agencies have general been fair; though some areas still need improvements. In January, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning released a mid Year Financial Report for 2012-2013 to the state Parliament in Torit giving a comprehensive performance of the spending during the austerity period. The Finance Minister, Sam Felix Makuja while presenting the Report on the expenditure, informed the house that his Ministry was publishing the report as parts of its activities to enhance the transparency of budget execution and aims at reflecting Public Financial Management Reforms undertaken across all levels of government. The report analysed budget performance during the July 2012 to December 2012 taking into consideration both macroeconomic factors such as performance of domestic resources and donor budget support and sectoral issues. In his summarized fiscal performance which provided an overview during the first half of the year, the minister detailed fiscal operations, comparisons of annual budget estimates and the fiscal program. He disclosed that while general transfers from the national government is 46,771,048 South Sudanese Pounds, the conditional transfers’ stand at 83,046,306 SSP with County Development Grants of 7,685,548 SSP. Makuja disclosed that the State Parliament in December last year approved 164,197,983 SSP as the State overall budget with a prorated budget of general transfers from national government being at 23,385,524 South Sudanese Pounds. The resource performance report analyses performance of resources available for all state expenditure during the half of the year. He added that the resource performance report examines in turn sources of revenue and budget support performance. He detailed that shared taxes however, have still not come through with the state having only received 1,172,170 SSP representing seven percent of the total allocation expected as transfers leaving the state with a gap of 93 percent which is equivalent to 7,381,394 SSP. He said that the State Revenue Authority collections for the first half year were lower than the projected as a result of the integrated centralized revenue procedures. He said whereas the general expenditure is within the expected levels, there are a few institutions which have had a minimal expenditure against their approved budget while others have gone beyond the expected levels for the reporting period. Makuja disclosed that the overall expenditure was at 36.7 percent which he described as below the expected level of 50 percent for the period. The Minister revealed that with the government’s commitment towards peace and security, the bigger share of the budget is spent on public administration and rule of law. Posted in: Home, Governance, Parliaments -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
