Uplift budget in tatters amid ‘misplaced priorities’
The country’s development programme seems to be in tatters, incapable of meeting even a fraction of its infrastructure and growth potential, while budgetary allocations are flowing to constituency politics and deficit financing, in what is deemed a blatant violation of the decisions of the National Economic Council (NEC), the apex economic decision-making body. This is the crux of a formal summary, presented by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives to the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) and the NEC, for course correction as part of the next year’s budget, with instructions to the Ministry of Finance to stay within the financial limits granted by the NEC to avoid stymieing national development. Specifically, it required the finance ministry to “provide the foreign exchange component (FEC) cover wherever required and also exempt the development spending from austerity measures”, not to make at-source deductions of cash development loans (CDL) and not to divert development funds to the non-development side during a specific year.