Amending budget: Education and Social Welfare get the cuts too – govt

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Amending budget: Education and Social Welfare get the cuts too – govt

4:23 CAT | 19 Jul 2016

O País / Minister Maleiane in Parliament

Education, Justice and Social Welfare will not escape the cuts planned by the Government in the proposed amendment to the state budget for 2016. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, went to Parliament yesterday to explain to detail the proposed amending budget for this year. “We are saying that everything that is unnecessary we cut. In the area of Education, we had 45.8 billion meticais and we will reduce to 44.4 billion. In Social Action, we had 5.6 billion meticais, we now have 5.3 billion, “Maleiane explained, adding that Justice had a value of 4.3 billion, now cut to only 3.9 billion meticais.

The Minister recongnised that there was misuse of the budget in state institutions. “We found that the amount for fuel was being very badly used, so we need to cut,” said Maleiane.

However, some sectors may have an increase in the budget. This is the case of Health, which could raise from 21.6 to 23.4 billion meticais. “We made an internal effort for this rise and assume that donors will continue to support at least this sector”, stated the Minister of Economy and Finance.

The agricultural sector can also register an increase from 15.3 to 16.2 billion meticais, this being the sector expected to help the country out of the economic crisis.

The government says that the state should obtain a greater revenue collection, but ensures that taxes will not increase. There are also budget increase forecasts for the costs of Parliament, the Military House (‘Casa Militar’, presidential guard) and the budget to be allocated to the Attorney General’s Office. But, on the other hand, the government plans to reduce funding for the Presidency, the State Council, the National Council of Defence and the Ministry of National Defence.

The Minister of Economy and Finance has further said that the debts of Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) have no involvement in the amending budget and explained that MAM is still negotiating the payment of the debt contracted with state guarantees of US$535 million, the first installment of about US$178 million, Adriano Maleiane having missed the repayment deadline on 23 May last.

Source: O País