Finance Minister apologises to lawmakers for understating national budget

Hon. Abdou Kolley

Hon. Abdou Kolley, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, has apologised to the country’s lawmakers for understating the national budget while recently tabling the 2013 Annual Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of the Government of The Gambia for the Fiscal year January to December 2013 at the National Assembly in Banjul.

“The Gambia government's 2013 expenditure and net-lending is projected at D8,301.5 billion and not D6,719.3 billion as stated while presenting the draft budget estimates before the House on Monday [3 December 2012],” Minister Kolley said on Wednesday at the National Assembly.

He added that the total revenue and grants for 2013 is D7,608.8 billion and not D6,528 billion.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Members approved the 2013 Draft Budget Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of The Gambia for the Fiscal Year January to December 2013, with amendments.

Speaking during the debate preceding the approval of the draft budget estimates, Hon. Fatou Mbye, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, noted that the draft estimates are “very reasonable and realistic”, considering the economic situation of The Gambia and the anticipated expenditure and revenue.

She said the key social sectors, among them the education sector, continue to receive the attention they deserve, which she said is a tool to the attainment of the development objective. 

“It is an open secret that parents still pay for their children’s school fees and we look forward to a day when free and compulsory education will be a reality, particularly at the basic level,” she said.