Conference Committee Imminent on 2021 Special Budget Passed at US$342,186,000

The Liberian Senate is said to have committed itself to scrutinizing the 2021 Special Budget which was approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday  in the tone US$342,186,000, especially to ascertain whether extra money can be identified from State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and revenues from domestic taxes and fees.

The House of Representatives, as a result of a robust decision from the budget hearings, US$40,636,000 was identified as additional and sanitized contributions.

A Senator, who begged not to be named, said Wednesday that after the Senate's scrutiny process, there is a possibility that the budget would be passed in a different amount which will result in a conference committee.

In the Legislature, a conference committee is a  temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation (draft law)  that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.

"I think we, the Senate, would begin the 2021 special budget Thursday, if it hit the floor,” said the Senator.

"We will re-review the budget and we hope to do it before the two-week Independence break."

On Tuesday, July 13, members of the House of Representatives passed the Special Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 in the tone of US$342,186,000 with compensation at US$150,281,000.

The special national budget which covers a period of six months beginning this July 1 to December 31, 2021, was approved late Tuesday evening during the 48th day sitting of the 4th session of the House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature.

The 2021 Special Budget is part of the Government of Liberia's transition to a fiscal calendar year (January to December) after the execution of this six month budget.

Under the current arrangement, the Public Financial Management Law (PFM) of 2009 calls for the special national budget to be submitted by the end of April 2021, giving the Legislature three months to consider its passage before June 30, 2021.

The decision is in line with the amended PFM law which calls for a change of the country’s fiscal year from July 31 to June 30, to January 1 to December 31.

The House took the decision following the recommendation of its Joint Committee on Ways, Means and Finance, and Public Accounts and Expenditure contained in its report read in Plenary.

This draft mid-year budget is divided into eight components. Of these,

US$150,281,000 goes to Compensation of Employees, US$45,106 ,000 for Goods and Services, subsidy gets US$1,092,000 Grants: US$38,612,000; social benefits: US$5,422,000; non-financial assets: US$66,671,000; domestic liabilities: US$18,231,000 foreign liabilities: US$16,769,000

The House also adopted all of the fiscal measures outlined by the Committee to guide the process, some of which call for the budgetary appropriation for the LRA to be paid immediately upon collection of revenue by the budgetary rate of 5 percent of revenue collection until its budgetary ceiling is realized in accordance with the act creating the LRA, and that all social development funds including the land rental fees tol be transferred directly to the affected county’s escrow accounts.

Prior to the House’s decision on Tuesday, the lawmakers locked themselves up behind closed doors for hours. Some of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were thoroughly scrutinizing the committee’s report to ensure all competing priorities are captured.

The Chairman of the Ways, Means and Finance Committee, Rep Thomas Fallah, speaking to a team of reporters following the passage of the budget late Tuesday evening acknowledged that the selection of competing priorities was one of the challenges the committee faced during the review process.

Meanwhile, the budget has been forwarded to the Liberian Senate for concurrence. If the Senate sees no qualm, it will then be approved and sent to the President for his signature and subsequent printing into a handbill by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the process.