The Native Consortium & Research Centre in a press statement has on Wednesday November 25, 2020 put out a statement clarifying their position on what is good, bad and ugly about the fiscal budget recently debated in Parliament.
According to the press statement, the Native Consortium has no doubt that the budget gives hope in the horizon. However, according to them there are some breath-taking concerns which are said to be good, bad and ugly about the 2021 fiscal budget and strategy.
The Consortium welcomes the 2021 fiscal Budget’s titled Economic Recovery for Job Creation & Human Capital Development and the tax waivers from different classes of commodities within it.
However, it frowned at the high customs duty as a result of the Common External Tarriff (CET) and high freight charges, insisting that it needs to be discussed nationally.
The Executive Director, Edmond Abu Jr. further criticized the high wage bill with additional pressure to pay chiefs monthly salaries, with the 2021 budget poised on paying Paramount Chiefs, Head Men and providing them with vehicles. “This move is preposterous and we see it as being a political corruption and untimely. Paying local authorities started with former Vice president (Late) Solomon Berewa and perfected by former President Koroma and now President Bio want to legalize it. This will put huge pressure on the country’s national budget and it will open the tax bracket to bite harder on the poor, by over taxing Paul to pay Peter,” the consortium noted.
Abu noted that the Policy shift in Agriculture, is a novelty and he thanked the Government of Sierra Leone, adding, “We look forward to its implementation because self-sufficiency is one of the silver bullets to alleviate poverty and hunger.”
In the Economic Diversification through value addition they observed that the Finance Minister placed more allocation on the value addition to the Fishing and to some extent the Agricultural sector on the economic diversification drive. He submitted to the Finance Ministry that economic diversification through value addition should be cascaded to the Service Sector, ICT, Tourism, Mining and manufacturing sectors which would provide jobs and create real economic growth.
Moreover, in the area of Monetary Policy, Abu admonished “exporters to repatriate at least 30% of export proceeds through local commercial banks,” quoting part 61 page 16 of the 2021 budget. He said they highly welcome the monetary measure and they want to urge the Honorable Members of Parliament to support the budget insisting that it will exponentially drive foreign exchange reserve and help market stabilize the volatility in the foreign exchange.
According to the Consortium, notwithstanding Projected revenue from Marine/Fisheries sector of Le 116.99 billion for 2021 is ridiculous and bogus, considering the infrastructure Sierra Leone has set on surveillance against poaching in the waters, which it insist should mobilize more revenue than ever before. “The Le100 billion revenue mobilized in the first half of the 2020 fiscal year during the global pandemic makes it the sickest projection ever from the real sector.”
Mr. Abu said that for the Finance Minister to have raised tarrifs on marriages and put more pressure on the budget by paying local authorities is inexcusable and a disservice to tax payers. Paying the
He commented that if the Fisheries Ministry could mobilize Le.100 billion within the first half of the 2020 financial year in the height of the global pandemic, then no normal human being should see a reason why the expected revenue from this sector in 2021 should not be projected at Le 200 billion when the planet is returning to normalcy with the discovery of vaccines for COVID 19.
He concluded that with the billions of Leones spent so far on the acquisition of marine vessels to surveillance and protect Sierra Leone’s territorial waters, “we see the Le116 billion as a fiscal misdirection and this is what we call quackononi‘cs’ and being insensitive to the situations on the ground.”
By Desmond Tunde Coker
2/12/2020. ISSUE NO: 7961