By Tabora Bojang
Finance Minister Seedy Keita has disclosed that D13.78 billion has been collected in revenue in the first half of 2025, but D14.51 billion has been expended, resulting in a budget deficit of D724.84 million.
Reporting on the budget implementation for the first half of the year before lawmakers yesterday, at the beginning of the 3rd ordinary session of the current legislative year, Minister Keita however added that “with efforts being made to slow down the rate of expenditures, coupled with the expected increase in performance of revenues especially with the realisation of programme grants, this deficit is expected to go down to meet annual fiscal targets.
According to him, the budget implementation for the first half of 2025 reflects strong domestic revenue performance, with collections exceeding the same period last year by 29 percent. “But this increase in revenue has been accompanied by significant spending pressures, primarily driven by rising costs in debt interest payments, personnel emoluments, subsidies and transfers to public institutions,” Minister Keita said.
Asked why debt interests and personnel emolument take precedence in the budget, Minister Keita replied: “You cannot refuse to pay people simply because of budget issues and if you borrow money, you must pay back because failure to pay will mean financial distress and we are not at that stage. These interests are commitments that are binding. They are not variable. We can manage the operations of other sectors which are manageable and have no contractual impact but if we do not pay interests, the bond holders can take the government to court.”
He further disclosed that overall government expenditure has risen by 9 percent compared to the same period last year. “Moving forward, fiscal measures will continue to be implemented to ensure prudent budget execution, while maintaining essential expenditures that support economic growth and development,” he assured.
The minister also informed lawmakers that no budget support or programme grants was realised during the period under review.
Consolidated expenditure
In breaking-down the overall D14.51 billion expenditure, Minister Keita reported that D13,142.623 went into current expenditure while D1,365.945 went into capital expenditure.
He explained the main drivers of the current expenditure to be personnel emoluments amounting to D4.74 billion, subsidies and transfers D3.46 billion, interest payments D2,637.261 and use of goods and services D2,305.542.
Subsidies
For subsidies, the minister added they were primarily put into crop financing and the energy sector. He disclosed that the government spent over $15 million to subsidise the energy sector in the last 12 months.
“We price our groundnuts above the market price and that is why our farmers get record prices for a ton compared to what obtains in the market,” Minister Keita stated. He said that the other element of the subsidies goes into providing fertiliser to farmers. “The government is subsidising about D1,700 for every bag of fertiliser. Without these subsidies farmers will not be able to afford fertiliser.”
