Namibia: Generous Saara Gets Seriously Frugal

20 February 2014

Windhoek — The Minister of Finance yesterday presented a budget that will certainly bring another smile to the faces of civil servants, while also appeasing a republic that is highly displeased with the yield of the current education system, as well as the pace of service delivery by the public health sector. The budget does have something too for the critics of poor performing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that keep extending the begging bowls to the Treasury for bailouts and thus ballooning public debt levels. Among the new fiscal stance is for SOEs to borrow money from the market using their balance sheets, albeit with an arms-length assistance of government guarantees.

The total expenditure outlay of N$60.28 billion presented to Parliament by Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, the Minister of Finance, reflects a 29.1 percent increase in operational expenditure that now stands at N$48 billion.

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