-- Public Administration, Education get the largest appropriations
The House of Representatives voted unanimously on Monday to approve the draft national budget for Fiscal Year 2024 in the tune of US$738,859,827; an excess of US$46,451,000 to the version submitted by the Executive. The Executive earlier submitted US$692.2 million.
In an unprecedented and legislative move, 60 members of the House of Representatives voted for the passage through roll call.
Plenary's decision followed a recommendation by the House's Committee on Ways, Means and Finance after a joint budget hearing with the Senate for a three-week public hearing into the 2024 Draft National Budget.
The committee said the figure was derived following hearings which were characterized by rigorous (robust) budget debates. In these debates, the committee reported that ministries and agencies were given the opportunity to defend their draft proposals.
In cases where there were doubts and insufficient information, the committee said it divided itself into sub-committees to ensure that the hearing intently looked at the programs in detail, so as to ensure value for money.
Major revenue generating agencies that were grilled were State Owned Enterprises (SOE's) including the Liberia Telecommunication Authority, Liberia Maritime Authority, National Port Authority, Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, and other revenue generating ministries, agencies and commissions.
"Honorable Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and distinguished colleagues, considering that there is an urgent need to improve and support the proper collection of government revenues, the committee wishes to inform you that these revenue projections are contingent on several factors including measures to be taken by the Liberia Revenue Authority and the passage of some legislations by the National Legislature," the House's Ways, Means, Finance and Development Planning Committee said.
"The appropriation stage follows the mandate of Plenary that included the relevant sector committees during the public hearing. In these rigorous budget debates, Ministries and Agencies were given the opportunity to defend their draft proposals. During the public hearing, in cases where there were doubts and insufficient information, the Committee divided into subcommittees to ensure that the hearing intently looked at the programs in detail, to ensure value for money. Therefore, several measures shall be recommended herein."
The Committee added: "Honorable Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and distinguished colleagues, to enhance revenue mobilization and ensure efficiency in our services sectors, the Committee recommends the passage of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Budget along with its Budget Working Papers, and the Fiscal Measures stated herein, in addition to the Budget Framework Paper."
The Breakdown
Of the amount of US$738,859,827, the largest chunk -- US$276,538,829 goes to PUBLIC-ADMINISTRATION SECTOR; EDUCATION SECTOR (US$109,567,481); SECURITY AND RULE OF LAW SECTOR (US$106,862,679); HEALTH SECTOR (US$80,501,200) and INFRASTRUCTURE AND BASIC SERVICES SECTOR (US$47,697,550).
The Recommendations
The Committee's recommendations, as adopted by plenary, called for the following fiscal measures:
1. Upon the approval of the Budget by the President, the Ministry of Finance shall present to the Legislature the final copy within fifteen working days.
2. Budgetary appropriation for the Liberia Revenue Authority shall be paid immediately upon collection of revenue by the budgetary ratio 5% of revenue collection until its budgetary ceiling is realized in accordance with the Act Creating the Liberia Revenue Authority;
3. All social development funds including the Land Rental Fees shall be transferred directly to the affected counties' escrowed accounts and swept at real time.
4. There shall be a revenue sharing of 50% - 50% between the Central Government and the Counties (Cities, Townships, Boroughs) for all excess budgetary revenue collected from Real Property taxes.
5. The Ministry of Labor and Liberia Immigration Services shall retain 5% of revenue generated for the enhancement of digital tracking and service system to cover cost of enforcement, to ensure efficiency in their services.
6. The Liberia Revenue Authority will ensure the timely collection of all taxes to include SOEs' contributions, and arrears from road funds monthly, and Maritime remittance payment being consistent with the LISCR Agreement. Provided that all contributions shall be remitted at most on a quarterly basis, while the Bureau of State Enterprise shall ensure that the financial reporting of all SOEs are presented fairly, taking account the expenditure and revenue. The effective monitoring of all SOEs shall be conducted monthly by the BSE at the expense of the SOEs at a cost of 0.25% of their gross income per annual.
7. The Liberia Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Mines and Energy shall coordinate to ensure the efficient collection of mining-related taxes to include a mechanism for withholding at source.
8. The Liberia Revenue Authority shall conduct a comprehensive reconciliation of all revenue transitory accounts. Amounts realized from said reconciliation shall be reported in the supplementary budget during the mid-year review.
9. Liberia Revenue Authority shall have viewing rights on all internal revenue generating accounts of revenue generating entities to include all State Owned Enterprises and reserve the right to garnish for non-compliance in the case of SOEs.
10. The Liberia Telecommunication Authority shall remit to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications 5% of its share of revenue as provided for in the amended
Telecommunication Act.
11. All spending and revenue generating entities shall submit quarterly reports to the Legislature through a specified procedure and reporting template to be regulated by the Legislative Budget Office (LBO); For providing a comprehensive report on the actual performance of FY-2023 budget, all spending entities shall present a comprehensive expenditure report to the Legislature through the Legislative Budget Office on or before
June 15, 2024.
12. The Ministry of Public Works, for the purpose of attaining value for money, shall submit to the Legislature through the Legislative Budget Office (LBO), a comprehensive list of all roads to be done as per the 2024 budget within 15-days of the passage of the Budget for approval. And for the purpose of cost-effective decentralization in the pliability of our roads, at least 25% of the road fund revenue shall be used to procure road maintenance equipment for all counties.
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13. That all revenue collected from the Road Fund shall be remitted to the Road Authority by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning as collected, while 5% of said fund shall be for the administration of the Road Fund Authority.
14. To empower Liberian Owned Businesses, at least 25% of all procurement of goods and services, including capital projects, should be reserved for Liberia businesses. All spending entities shall submit a quarterly report to the Legislature through the Legislative Budget Office (LBO) on the enforcement of this measure.
15. The budget for the National Council of Chiefs and Elders shall be transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as part of a department line called the National Council of Chiefs.
16. All spending entities having PSIP lines in their budget shall submit a comprehensive proposal for the spending of those appropriations to the Minister of Finance and Development with a copy to the Legislative Budget Office prior to receiving allotment for said PSIP.
17. All spending institutions should buy vehicles at most US$45,000 for use for heads of ministries, SOEs among others except the President, Vice President, Speaker, Pro Tempore, Chief Justice, and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Budget has been forwarded to the Senate for concurrence.
