Budget Allots US$16M to Legislature - US$495K for Speaker’s Office; GAC US$2M
06/22/08 - Staff Report
Capital Buiding, office of the Liberia Legislatures
Monrovia, LiberiaMonrovia -What is actual contained in the Draft National Budget for Liberia's Fiscal Year July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009 for Social and Community Services Sector, especially for the Education and Health Sectors? FrontPageAfrica digs into the draft budget and brings you some important details.
Allotment in the Draft National Budget for the National Legislature is put at US$16,000.00, with US$423,920 allocated to the office of the President Pro-Tempore while the office of the Speaker, gets US$495,300 and US$303,688 allotted to office of the Deputy Speaker.
According to the breakdown of the allotment for the National Legislature, the Liberian Senate gets US$5,063,347 while US$9,711,746 is allotted for House of Representatives. However, it is not known whether the National Legislature will make any adjustment to increase or decrease the draft national budget, currently before the Lower House.
Besides, summary by ministries and agencies in the Draft National Budget for 2008/2009 include the Ministry of State, US$7,166,800; Office of the Vice President, US$1,155,000; Bureau of the Budget, US$1,313,002; Ministry of Finance, US$7,409,800; Ministry of Internal Affairs, US$7,543,400; Ministry of planning and economic Affairs, US$1,122,600; Civil Service Agency, US$1,635,672; General Services Agency, US$1,449,200 and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, US$1,492,800.
Also, the draft budget allocates US$2,369,600 for the General Auditing Commission (GAC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, US$8,050,000; National Election Commission (NEC), US$2,600,000; National Investment Commission, US$835,400; Governance Commission, US$589,800; Environmental Protection Agency, US$599,800; Liberia Broadcasting System, US$550,000; TRC, US$1,000,000 and Anti-Corruption Commission gets US$150,000.
The Draft Budget details also reflect allocation of US$9,701,000 for the judiciary; Liberian National Police, US$7,111,525; Bureau of Immigration, US$2,306,812; National Fire Service,US$1,076,608; Ministry of National Defense, US$6,180,711; National Security Agency (NSA), US$1,180.800; Special Security Services, US$2,538,800; Ministry of National Security, US$475,800; NBI, US$358,600; Human Right Commission, US$296,600 and Ministry of Youth and Sports, US$3,789,176.
For the Ministry of Gender, US$1,072,447 is allocated; US$6,887,000 is set aside for the Ministry of Agriculture; Lands, Mines and Energy is apportioned US$3,801,515; Ministry of Commence, US$1,504,400; Ministry of Post an Telecommunication, US$1,221,633; Ministry of Transport, US$2,444,000; Ministry of Labor, US$2,299,200; Ministry of Public Works, US$21,802,400; Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, US$785,000; LPMC, US$300,000; LEC, 2,335,000; MTA, US$,1,580,512 and FDA, US$3,239,600, among others agencies.
Accordingly, the FY2008/2009 budget projection is US$276.8, or 38.8% increase over FY2007/2008 while it comprises of a Core Budget of firm resource estimates totaling US$248,867.955. The Core Budget is further disaggregated into Recurrent Revenue of US$212,471,679 and non-Recurrent Revenue of US$36,396,276.
Details of the estimated revenue for FY2008/2009 is US$276,767,955 and is split among four main sources which include Base Revenue Projection of US$237,371,679 or 85.8% of the total revenue projection, an Estimated Revenue Surplus of US$11 million or 4% from FY2007/2008 while rice stabilization fund of US$496,276 or 0.2% and contingent revenue estimated at US$27,900,000 or 10%.
According to the FY2008/2009 Base Revenue, tax on international trade remains the largest component of revenue as it accounts for US$75.2 million or an absolute growth of US$6.4 million over FY2007/2008, 27.2% of total projection and 31.7% of the previous fiscal period.
Besides, the second major contributor to revenue will be tax on income and profits, which is projected at US$54,458,936 or 19.7% and Extraordinary revenue of Cluster iron ore concession, US$7,500,000 from Bong Mines and US$8.9 million form GSM license fees represents 11.9%.
The total allocation for the Education sector according to the Draft national Budget is US$25,093,257 while US$18,379,328 is set aside for the health sector.
The breakdown of the FY2008/2009 Draft National Budget allocates US$17,453,845 for Education Central, US$3,219,601 for University of Liberia; Monrovia Consolidated School System, 1,940,761; Booker Washington Institute (BWI), 964,686; Forestry Training Institute, US$61,357; Cuttington University College, US$357,260; National Commission on Higher Education, US$199,645; William V.S. Tubman College of Technology, US$643,920 while US$252,182 is allocated for WAEC.
Budget allocations for others educator sectors include Harbel Multilateral High School, US$281,798; Sinoe Multilateral High School, US$257,601; Webbo Rural Teacher Training Institute, US$424,337; Primary Education, US$6,373,531; Teacher Education and Accreditation, US$60,943; Zorzor Rural Teacher Training Institute, US$368,775; Kakata Rural Teacher Institute, US$375,118; Zwedru Multilateral High School, US$300,880; Voinjama Multilateral High School, US$240,268; Subsidies and Scholarships, US$1,461,041 and Curriculum Development, US$60,124, among others sectors.
On the issue of Health, the following allocations have been made, with US$13,101,600 set aside for Ministry of Health; Preventive Services, US$1,746.170; Bureau of Social Welfare, US$933,938; Planning, Research and Development, US$359,104; Health and Vital Statistics, US$148,390; Administration and Management, US$1,689,746; J.F.K. Medical Center, US$4,621,736; Phebe Hospital and School of Nursing, US$391,637 while US$264,355 is allocated for Liberia Institute of Biomedical Research.
FPA