On South Sudan 2015/2016 Budget
By Malith Alier, Juba, South Sudan
June 28, 2015 (SSB) —- This country like other nations of the world, prepares a yearly budget that details expenditures and sources of revenues over a period of twelve months technically known as a financial year.
Simply put, the budget is a summary statement indicating the estimated amount of revenue that the government requires and hopes to raise. It also indicates the various sources from which the revenue will be raised and the projects on which the government intends to spend the revenue in a particular financial year
South Sudan’s financial year used to be from January to December before a shift to July/June in 2013 for reasons known the government alone. However, this is not a major issue for the masses because it means the same either way.
The budget fulfills three main functions as under: to raise revenue to meet government expenditure such as administration, defense, law and order, environmental and economic services.
It is a means of redistributing wealth. A few people own a disproportionate portion of wealth and taxing them in a progressive manner helps redistribute that wealth to the poor majority of the citizens.
It is meant to control the level of economic activity in the country. The government uses the budget to implement fiscal policy such as regulation through government expenditure and taxes.
The proposed budget of the government of South Sudan has the above functions on its sights i.e. to raise revenue, to redistribute wealth and finally to control level of economic activity in the country.
Nobody knows why the government performs poorly on the timing of the passage of the budget. Tomorrow Monday 29/6/15, the government or the minister of finance is heading to the parliament to present the 2015/2016 budget for approval. This is only one day into the new financial period. This is hardly surprising because in the previous years the president decreed the previous year budget to be used for the next financial year until that year’s budget is out.
Developed countries take their budgets seriously and prepare to pass them one month earlier. Australia whose financial year is July/June passes its budget in May so that enough time is given for all to get ready for the next period and in one accord. The Australian budget is thoroughly studied before it is passed. The opposition is even allowed time to respond to the budget which is usually prepared by the government.
The government of South Sudan is faced with two issues concerning the budget; timing and implementation. The budget needs to be prepared earlier to allow enough time before implementation. A period of at least one month is appropriate. Secondly, a budget which is poorly implemented is not worth the paper it is written on. It is also not worth the efforts put into its passage by the arms of the government, the executive and the legislature.
Over the past years, there emerged complains on the budget implementation in various departments where some overspend and others under spend. To correct this, the government should foster monitoring and evaluation officers (not CID or NSS officers) to various ministries and departments of the state for that purpose.
It has been said time and again that about 98 per cent of the budget of the government is funded by revenues from crude oil. This calls for proper implementation of the budget in the face of diminished oil revenues. Not doing so will result in a deficit budget and the government will be forced to borrow to fund the deficit. It takes exceptional management to have a surplus budget something difficult in this country and under the prevailing conditions.
It is the responsibility of the national legislative assembly to order the national minister of Finance and Economic Planning to prepare and present a timely budget for approval to the august house at least one month before the next financial period. The unnecessary delays we usually witnessed are not in the interest of this nascent state.
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