Organisations want to see impact of austerity on Mozambican leaders

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Organisations want to see impact of austerity on Mozambican leaders

10:17 CAT | 12 Dec 2018

Filipe Magaia square, in Maputo, Photo: DW

A group of Mozambican civil society organisations on Friday asked the government to demonstrate the results of ending benefits to senior state and other public officials.

“The release of the budgetary impact would serve to strengthen Mozambicans’ confidence in the implementation of austerity policies for all,” an analysis of the 2019 State Budget (OE) published by the Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO) reads.

The forum is composed of 19 members, and the document, written by the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), is financially supported by the European Union (EU).

With regard to the containment of public expenditure, the State Budget refers to the fixing of fuel, telecommunications and real estate expenses, but the NGOs consider the information unsatisfactory.

“It is not possible to measure the budgetary impact of these measures, because the budget does not include sufficient details,” it adds.

This is one of several aspects of the budget where the FMO sees failures in communicating with citizens.

“The Government has committed in previous years to increasing cooperation with civil society organisations, but ignores these commitments,” the document says, complaining about the lack of public discussion of the proposed budget.

As a consequence, the organisations’ intention to “influence the policies and the envelope of public resources destined to the productive and social sectors” has been frustrated.

The Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique approved the State Budget for 2019 with the votes of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) government majority on Thursday, after discussions had been concluded.

The 2019 State Budget provides for revenues of around 249 billion meticais (EUR 3.58 billion) and for total expenditure of 340 billion meticais (EUR 4,885 million).

The overall deficit is expected to rise from 8.1% of GDP this year to 8.9% in 2019.

Source: Lusa