By EDDIE OSIFELO
MINISTER of Finance and Treasury, Harry Kuma outlined the overview of the $3.9 billion budget in Parliament yesterday.
Delivering the second reading of the 2021 Appropriation Bill 2021, Kuma said the government has planned an overall deficit of $329 million in the 2021 budget.
He said total consolidated revenue is estimated at $3.710 billion and total expenditures at $4.039 billion.
“Of the total consolidated revenue estimates, total domestic SIG revenue is projected at $3.009 billion.
“The government is confident that the balance of $701.5 million will be externally sourced,” he said.
Kuma said of the $701.5 million balance, government has already secured $341 million from its traditional multilateral and bilateral partners.
He said the remaining balance will be sourced domestically or from other normal external sources.
Further to that, Kuma said in terms of expenditures, the $4.039 billion in total consolidated expenditure consists of $2.830 billion in recurrent expenditures, and $938 million in development expenditures.
He said a total of $270.5 million will be budget support and $90 million from the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).
“An amount of $32 million, consisting of $12 million for continued Economic Stimulus Package program and $20 million in Contingency Warrant provision is also budgeted for the year.
Furthermore, Kuma said the total revenue estimates for 2021 is $3.710 billion.
This consists of $3.009 billion in normal SIG revenue; $360 million is Budget Support revenue from Donor partners and $341 million secured from development partners to fund Governments development budget initiatives.
He said both the Inland Revenue Division (IRD) and Customs and Excise Division are projected to collect $2,576 million in 2021.
“This is a slight decrease of 2 percent from the 2020 revised estimates of approximately $2,580 million.
“Total non-tax revenue is estimated at $433 million dollars for 2021,” he said.
Kuma said the IRD revenue estimate of $1.744 billion is 15 percent below the 2020 original revenue estimates of $2.048 billion, but 4 percent above the revised revenue estimates of $1.678 billion in 2020.
Moreover, he said for Customs and Exercise Division, the revenue estimates of $832million is 15 percent down from the 2020 original revenue estimates of $976 million and 7 percent below the revised revenue estimates of $902 million in 2020.
“For other ministries, non-tax revenue is estimated $433 million.
“This is 20 percent below the 2020 original revenue estimates of $546 million and 2 percent below the revised revenue estimates of $441 million in 2020,” he added.
Debate on the budget continues today.
