MAKAMBA March 6th (ABP) – The Ministry of Finance, Budget and Privatization gathered on Friday March 2, 2018 in Makamba (south), administrators, accountants, representatives of businessmen and civil society for explain to them the drawing and use of the 2018 State budget.
In his opening speech, the Director General of the Budget, Mr. Edonias Niyongabo, asked the communal administrators to use the 500 million Burundian francs that the government grants to the communes before December 20, 2018, because the principles of public finances indicate that the budget is annual.
To help communes fully use that government allocation, the public procurement code is reviewed. The amount of 500 million Burundian francs will be paid directly to the communes’ account. The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority will be able to make a posteriori evaluation, continued the Director General of the Budget. The commune will be able to allocate 80,000,000 BIF to development projects without going through public procurement procedures.
The participants in the meeting, for instance, the administrator of the Makamba commune and the deputy chairman of the Kayogoro communal council wanted to know why the budget allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is not revised upward while more than 90% of the populations live by that primary sector.
The expert in drafting the budget at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Nolasque Ndikumana, said that the budget of the sector of agriculture and livestock is 9.4% of the State budget. The government intends to increase the rate, the reason why it asks the administrative officials to raise awareness among people to pay taxes to increase State revenue.
The state budget amounts to more than 1431.7 billion Burundian francs with a deficit of 164 billion Burundian francs that will be mobilized through domestic and foreign credits.