Liberia: House, Senate to Jointly Scrutinize 2024 Draft Budget

The House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed to jointly scrutinize the 2024 Draft National Budget totaling US$692.4 million within a 30-day timeframe.

This decision was announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the opening of a 30-day extraordinary session convened on Tuesday, 2nd April. Reconvening of the lawmakers, who had been in a brief recess recently, was precipitated by an appeal from President Boakai for collaborative budget deliberations to enhance transparency and accountability in public financial management.

The budget review process will be led by a Joint Budget Committee involving representatives from both chambers, the Speaker said. The Revenue Component is set to begin on April 5th, followed by the expenditure component, with separate reports for approval and concurrence anticipated thereafter.

The Joint Budget Committee Hearing of the House of Representatives and the Senate is triggered by an appeal from President Boakai urging lawmakers to deliberate actions collectively as a government and instructed heads of spending entities to lend their fullest cooperation as we endeavor to depart from business as usual to pursue a path of transparency and accountability in public financial management.

“Firstly, fiscal discipline must be our guiding principle for budget execution. The Amended and Restated PFM Act, the PFM Regulations, and the Fiscal Rules must be adhered to by all at all times.

“Secondly, heads of spending entities must exercise their fiduciary responsibility to ensure the highest degree of fiscal probity and accountability as the Budget Holders. We must be reminded about the requirements of the PFM Law that spending entities make periodic reports to facilitate routine audits. Adherence to these requirements has been the missing link in our budget execution and must be restored.

“We have already missed nearly the entire first quarter of the fiscal year of full budget execution. The delayed commencement of fully executing the budget and the approaching rainy season have traditionally adversely affected the timing and implementation of programs and projects. It is against this background that I implore your indulgence to expeditiously enact the draft FY2024 Budget into law for its full execution,” President Boakai said in his communication to members of the Legislature. 

Members of the House of Representatives unanimously voted yesterday for the Draft 2024 National Budget to be forwarded to the Committee on Ways, Means, Finance, and Development Planning and report in 14 days.

During the transmission of the 2024 Draft Budget to the House’s Ways, Means, Finance and Development Planning Committee, the Speaker of the 55th Legislature, indicated that “it has been agreed that the House of Representatives and the Senate will jointly scrutinize the budget,” Speaker Koffa said.

Following the announcement from the Speaker, Rep. Dixon Seeboe, chairman of the House’s Ways, Means, and Development Planning Committee will be the Joint Chairman while Senator Prince Moye, chairman of the Senate’s Ways, Means and Budget Committee will be the Co-chairman.

Accordingly, the Revenue Component of the Draft 2024 Budget will hopefully begin on Friday, 5th April, and after one week, the expenditure component will begin and thereafter, a report will be made for separate submission of the budget for approval and concurrence, respectively.

President Boakai, in his communication to the lawmakers, commended the collaboration between the Legislature and the Executive, highlighting the alignment of budget priorities with the national development objectives outlined in the ARREST Agenda and the 100-Day Deliverables.

He lauded the Speaker for his pragmatic action, which he viewed as an early positive sign of cooperation and coordination between the Legislature and the Executive in pursuance of the shared national development objectives. 

“This has offered us the opportunity to prioritize policy-driven programs as articulated in the ARREST Agenda and our 100-Day Deliverables,” the President said.

The proposed resource envelope for the FY2024 budget includes Tax Revenue accounting for 78%, Non-tax Revenue at 16%, and external revenue at 6%.

The budget expenditures emphasize recurring costs, with debt services, employee compensation, and social sector investments identified as major expenditure categories. The allocation of funds for ongoing public sector investment projects aligned with the ARREST Agenda reflects a strategic focus on completing critical initiatives.

In the President’s communication, he mentioned that the proposed resource envelope for the FY2024 budget is projected at US$692.4 million, of which Tax Revenue accounts for US$540.2 million or 78 percent and Non-tax Revenue of US$109.8 million or 16 percent. Externally sourced revenue is projected at US$42.4 million or 6 percent of the revenue estimate Compared to the FY2023 budget outturn of US$793.3 million, the FY2024 budget represents a decrease of 12.7 percent.

The President explained that the fall is mainly attributed to a decrease of US$144.6 million in external financing. In order to manage the debt portfolio, which crowds out spending on critical priorities, our government has decided to exercise fiscal restraint and discipline when it comes to acquiring new debts. This decrease will be offset by increases in Tax Revenue of US$16.7 million or 3% and Non-Tax Revenue of US$27.0 million or 33%.

“The medium-term projections for domestic revenue for the outer years 2025 and 2026 are set at US$675.5 million and US$712.1 million, respectively. Of these amounts, 2025 tax revenues are estimated at US$560.3 million (83 percent) and nontax US$115.2 million (17 percent). In 2026, tax revenue will rise to US$591.2 (83 percent) and nontax US$121.0 million (17 percent).”

The President pointed out: “The proposed expenditure for FY2024 is shared between recurrent expenditure of $640.5 million or 93 percent and public sector investment projects (PSIP) is US$51.9 million or 7 percent. Among the key recurrent expenditures are debt services to commercial banks arising from the construction of projects and to multilateral institutions to unlock support for medium-term development priorities. Other recurrent expenditures are compensation of employees, operational goods and services for government entities and subsidies, grants and transfers to governmental and non-governmental institutions in the health and education and social service sectors.”

President Boakai added that the proposed recurrent expenditure of US$640.5 million has been allocated towards major expenditure categories including Debt Service (domestic and foreign) US$129 million, Compensation of Employees US$297 million, Use of Goods and Services US$90.2 million (including US$4.7 million for drugs and medical consumables), acquisition of Non-financial Assets US$3 million, Social Benefits (pensions, retirement benefits, etc.) US$17.9 million, subsidies US1.7 million, and Grants US$101.7 million.

Meanwhile, the President stated that the proposed allocation for Public Sector Investment Projects is US$51.9 million. Some critical programs that have been prioritized within the PSIP envelope include the following allocations: “US$26.3 million to Road Fund projects; US$13.9 million to 100-day Deliverables; US$3.6 million to District Development Projects; US$1.8 million to Youth ICT Capacity Building; and US$1.5 million for Asset Recovery Task Force.”

Overall, the budget process reflects a commitment to fiscal discipline, transparency, and prioritization of revenue allocation to advance Liberia’s development goals, the executive said.