By Alieu Amara Suwu
Ministry of Trade and Industry has presented its budget received and expended in 2022, and has also presented a budget for the 2023 Financial Year (FY). Agencies under the Ministry generated revenues to a total amount of Nle 778.22 Million.
Saffie Deen-Tarawally, Director of Planning, Policy and Research at the Ministry, made this disclosure when making a presentation at the ongoing budget policy hearing at the Ministry of Finance, on 26th September 2022.
Accordingly, she said Integrated Trade Services (ITS) generated Nle 22.76 million; Sierra Leone Standards Bureau Nle 731 thousand; Produce Monitoring Board (PMB) Nle 4.48 million; Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) Nle 748.10 million; and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Nle 1.75 million.
Deen said Nle 3.4 million was approved in 2022 but commitment from the Ministry of Finance is Nle 2.7 million (81%). She noted that commitment in FY2022 is mostly for overseas travels and other running costs, adding that nothing has been received for implementation of core activity. She talked on the 2022FY deliverables accomplished and the challenges, ranging from financial – late disbursement, capacity – insufficient field staff and low salaries, and logistics, insufficient office space and inadequate electronics and machines.
On the 2023 Financial Year, a budget of Nle 9,021 million is presented. She noted that the MTI will be constrained to achieve its deliverables effectively if there is any shortfall and/or untimely allocation of the budget submitted for the FY2023.
