Africa-Press – Botswana. Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame will take centre stage on Monday to deliver budget proposals for the 2024/2025 financial year, which also marks the final year of the two-year Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP).
Minister Serame will deliver the national budget against a better-than-expected economic outlook characterised by an improved fiscal position and enriched Gross Domestic Product (GDP) owing to the implementation of the government’s Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan.
The budget proposals will also be critical to government in light of the impending general elections expected to take place in October.
The implementation of the second TNDP is also of strategic significance as it will align the national development planning process to the electoral cycle.
Official data released by the Bank of Botswana monetary policy committee in December revealed that inflation decreased slightly from 3.2 per cent in September to 3.1 per cent in October 2023 thus remaining within the bank’s medium-term objective range of 3–6 per cent.
The monetary committee also noted that real GDP grew by five per cent in the 12 months to June 2023 compared to a growth of 6.7 per cent in the year to June 2022.
It is anticipated that it will give some room for pre-election tax cuts.
It is also expected that supportive monetary and fiscal policies and improvements in water and electricity supply as well as the implementation of the Transitional National Development Plan coupled with reforms to further improve the business environment will create the much-needed budget surplus.
Minister Serame is anticipated to propose a targeted economic stimulus budget underpinned by extensive infrastructure investment and human resource development as well as to strengthen project management and revenue collection disciplines.
The budget could also propose an improved social protection programme to support not only the most vulnerable groups, but also to further cushion against the rising cost of living as a result of the projected El Niño phenomenon in Southern Africa that may lead to higher inflation.
When delivering the 2023/2024 budget proposals, Minister Serame highlighted that the attainment of the six TNDP priorities of digital transformation, business environment reforms, infrastructure development, value chain development, sustainable livelihoods and climate were crucial to economic growth. The finance minister is expected to paint a picture of the progress made in attaining the six priority areas.
Minister Serame’s budget statement will also include tax and spending proposals along with growth and borrowing forecasts as well as government debt plans for the 2024/25 financial year.
In an interview, economist, Mr Sennye Obuseng said the budget should balance the objective of spurring economic activity and achieving higher growth while managing domestic and international challenges.
He said consistent with the country’s aspiration to become a high-income country by 2036, it was expected that the minister would propose the allocation of more funds to areas that would significantly change the lives of Batswana and create new sustainable economic opportunities.
Like in the previous year budget proposal, Mr Obuseng said, he expected the 2024/2025 proposals to have a significant increase in the development budget as the country strove to fill infrastructure gaps and implement projects that were necessary to address constraints to economic growth.
He said Batswana also expected Minister Serame to align the 2024/2025 budget allocations with agreed policies and programmes, Vision 2036 and the Reset and Agenda, particularly with reference to the development budget.
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