IN its continued quest to implement development in the country, Government, under the Unted Party for National Development (UPND) administration has reiterated its agenda in the 2024 budget presentation.
Government proposes to spend
K177.8billion next years budget.
Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko highlighted several developmental agenda’s that the UPND administration strives to achieve and was outlined in four parts; the global and domestic economic developments, the macroeconomic objectives and details estimate of revenue and its conclusion.
Dr Musokotwane said told Parliament that the budget is stemmed on a proposal to spend around K167.3 billion in all sectors towards improvement of the economy.
The minister stated that development of the country requires perseverance and discipline.
He maintained that Government is working towards addressing the high cost of mealie meal and fuel prices and that the journey to a better Zambia is through collective efforts.
“Madam speaker, the New Dawn government is delivering on its promises to the people of Zambia. Our promise to fix the economy is on course. Growth has rebounded. Budget credibility has been restored. Inflation has been lowered, the exchange rate has been stabilised and concrete steps are being taken to restructure debt.”
“Government is working towards addressing the high mealie meal prices and fuel prices and so the journey to a better Zambia is a collective one,” he said.
Dr Musokotwane said Government has increased the maize price purchase for the farmers under because recently released data showed that they were among the poorest in the country.
He said that farmers are the ones that contribute tremendously to the food basket of the country, yet they are rated among the poorest because they were selling the maize commodity at low prices,
Dr Musokotwane also stated that to improve on the agriculture sector, more farm blocks will be improved by enring the road network and resources in the areas are revamped.
He also touched on the importance of the education sector which he noted was making strides in ensuring that even the vulnerable have access to education, an incentive that only the rich could explore previously.
Dr Musokotwane said to further mprove the education sector, a total of 4,200 teachers will be recruited next year.
On proposals by various sections of society for government to re introduce fuel subsidies, the minister said that subsidies cannot be brought back because the resources have been channelled towards free education.
“Some citizens have called for reintroduction of subsidies for fuel. This means that we may have to abandon free education. In light of what I have said, the focus should be to provide for children and so I believe going back to subsidies is something which will be good for the vulnerable,” he said.
And Dr Musokotwane said to further enhance delivery of development in communities, he proposed that the Constituency Development Fund be increased from K28 million to K30.6 million so as to address various challenges.
He also outlined that in 2024, around 4,000 health workers will again be recruited to cushion the challenges in the health sector,
Dr Musokotwane said other introductions will be the introduction of a whistleblower reward for those that help enable recovery of stolen assets.
On Pay as You Earn Threshold, the proposed increment by the Minister was K5,100 from K4, 800.
(Mwebantu, Saturday, 30th September, 2023)
