K14.9 BILLION RELEASED
…delivering development to the people cannot be business as usual, says Dr. Musokotwane
Lusaka, Thursday, 15th June, 2023
To ensure the continued implementation of the 2023 national budget, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, in May, 2023, released a total of K14.9 billion.
Of this amount, K688.2 million went
towards implementation of various developmental programmes and general operations, K314.9 million for road infrastructure, K8.2 billion for debt service (domestic and external) and other liabilities, K3.7 billion for the public service
wage bill, and K1.9 billion for transfers, subsidies and social benefits.
From the K1.9 billion under the transfers and subsidies category, some notable expenditure items that got funding in May, 2023, include:
1) Social Cash Transfer programme, K731.9 million;
2) Operations of hospitals and other Government Grant Aided Institutions, K266.8 million;
3) Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) financing gap and grant, K185.6 million;
4) Operations of public universities, K115.1 million; and,
5) Local Government Equalization Fund, K111.6 million.
In the same month, we released K688.2 million to facilitate effective public service delivery under various public institutions, notable among which were the following expenditure items:
1) K317.3 million for general operations of Ministries, Provinces and other Agencies (MPA’s); and
2) K51 million for TAZAMA workers’ salaries.
Under the capital expenditure category, government released K314.9 million, which funds went towards road infrastructure programmes.
In the month under review, we also spent K3.7 billion on costs relating to the Public Service Wage Bill
(Personal Emoluments) for various public service workers.
In line with our commitment to reduce indebtedness, K7 billion was released in the same month for payment of both domestic debt and external debt. In addition, we released K1.2 billion for dismantling of arrears owed to suppliers of
goods & services.
Commenting on the May 2023, budget releases report, Finance and National Planning Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, MP, has noted that some areas of the country are lagging in the absorption of Constituency Development
Fund (CDF), thereby leading to delays in the empowerment of citizens and interruptions in the implementation of constituency level developmental programmes.
“This is why, in addition to our issuance of Treasury and Financial Management Circular No. 7 of 2022 (which devolved requirements for contracts to be cleared by Directors of Finance in respective Ministries and Provinces in line with the Public Finance Management Act No. 1 of 2018, Section 4 (3)), we have further streamlined the contract approval process and delegated the mandate of clearing CDF related contracts to Directors of Finance in local authorities.
We expect the measure to speed up implementation and ensure that empowerment funds are in the hands of our people, who are
clearly eager to work hard and develop their constituencies,” Dr. Musokotwane has said.