BUJUMBURA April 30th (ABP) – The decree bill establishing the general budget of the Republic of Burundi for the 2020/2021 fiscal year, as adopted by the two chambers of parliament, introduces some additions compared to the 2019 fiscal year / 2020, according to official source.
According to said bill, other measures have been introduced to contain public spending as part of continuing to carry out a prudent and prioritization fiscal policy.
Thus, in order to facilitate traceability and avoid the diversion of counterparties from investment projects; that decree bill stipulates that the counterpart funds are transferred directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries, stipulates article 19 of said bill. In its article 20, it is indicated that from now on, “no project is presented in the finance law for eligibility unless it is aligned with the National Development Plan (PND)”. In addition to that requirement, the existence of a standard project sheet issued by the technical ministry.
In accordance with article 39, vehicles sold by donor projects and programs must be registered beforehand with the ministry which has finance in its attributions, before being handed over to the one in charge of the cartage of the State. From now on, companies will have to make available to the Burundi Revenue Office two copies of the statistical declaration and the tax form for the previous year.
That decree bill introduces a novelty with the objective of ensuring control and monitoring of the implementation of procedures for the execution of public contracts. Thus, the prices of goods and services are subject to new regulations which determine the price ceiling benchmark (article 100). That decree bill underlines that in addition to the demolition costs, a fine of 1000 BIF / m² is established inside the country and 3000 BIF/ m² in the Bujumbura City Council, with the owners of the plots for any construction in excess terminals (article 104).
Henceforth, “a market for supplies, works and services not exceeding 2 billion Burundian francs is open to competition from local businesses”, in accordance with article 40 of the 2020/2021 budget bill. In its article 41, that decree bill adds that the purchases of food from school canteens, non-food and supplies used in primary and secondary schools are limited to the local market. The local markets in question are municipal and provincial markets. If demand is not met, purchases are extended to the domestic market. That decree bill introduces, in its article 103 that, any active person benefiting from the assistance of the State is called beforehand to one or more production cooperatives. While article 34 stipulates that the State grants, in the form of a co-payment, health care assistance to pensioners of the State not covered by the Mutual Fund of the Public Service. Another novelty of the decree bill on the general State budget for the 2020/2021 financial year, which was not included in the general budget for the 2019/2020 financial year, is enshrined in article 29. Thus, it is stipulated that “an administrative building is constructed annually over a period of 10 years”.