Friday, July 11, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • E-edition
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • News
  • Economy
  • E-Edition
  • Companies & Markets
  • In Business With
  • Lifestyle
    • Motoring
  • Sports
    BTA seeks sponsorship to host World Junior Tennis tournament

    ‘International Tennis Tournaments Drive Economic Growth’- Thipe

    From Promise to Pause: The Support Gap Holding Back Botswana’s Female Athletes

    From Promise to Pause: The Support Gap Holding Back Botswana’s Female Athletes

    Orebonye’s Defiant Rise Through North Africa’s Football Battleground

    Orebonye’s Defiant Rise Through North Africa’s Football Battleground

    Botswana Emerges as Sporting Powerhouse at 2025 RASA

    Botswana Emerges as Sporting Powerhouse at 2025 RASA

    With Eyes on Morocco, Botswana’s Mares Gear Up for WAFCON 2025 Amid Rising Hopes and Renewed Support

    With Eyes on Morocco, Botswana’s Mares Gear Up for WAFCON 2025 Amid Rising Hopes and Renewed Support

    Business Mind, Football Heart: Babitseng’s Journey to the COSAFA Executive

    Business Mind, Football Heart: Babitseng’s Journey to the COSAFA Executive

  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Economy
  • E-Edition
  • Companies & Markets
  • In Business With
  • Lifestyle
    • Motoring
  • Sports
    BTA seeks sponsorship to host World Junior Tennis tournament

    ‘International Tennis Tournaments Drive Economic Growth’- Thipe

    From Promise to Pause: The Support Gap Holding Back Botswana’s Female Athletes

    From Promise to Pause: The Support Gap Holding Back Botswana’s Female Athletes

    Orebonye’s Defiant Rise Through North Africa’s Football Battleground

    Orebonye’s Defiant Rise Through North Africa’s Football Battleground

    Botswana Emerges as Sporting Powerhouse at 2025 RASA

    Botswana Emerges as Sporting Powerhouse at 2025 RASA

    With Eyes on Morocco, Botswana’s Mares Gear Up for WAFCON 2025 Amid Rising Hopes and Renewed Support

    With Eyes on Morocco, Botswana’s Mares Gear Up for WAFCON 2025 Amid Rising Hopes and Renewed Support

    Business Mind, Football Heart: Babitseng’s Journey to the COSAFA Executive

    Business Mind, Football Heart: Babitseng’s Journey to the COSAFA Executive

  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Business Weekly & Review
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Underspending of Development Budget Worries Serame

mm by Kabelo Adamson
March 8, 2023
in News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
The catch 22 of Serame’s fiscal policy

GABORONE 7 February 2022, The minister of Finance and Economic Development Peggy Serame arriving to present the proposed budget for 2022/23 financial year to the National Assembly in Gaborone on 7 February 2022. Serame is the first female finance minister in the country to propose the national budget in the parliament. Serame is carrying a bag which is made in Botswana. (Pic: MONIRUL BHUIYAN/PRESS PHOTO)

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Says litigation is a factor in underspending
  • About P64% of budget spent as at January
  • Most of ministries have spent less than 20% of their development budget

Underspending of the development budget is a serious concern at Government Enclave, not least because it can play havoc with bookkeeping, the Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, has said.

Addressing journalists at a press briefing in Gaborone this week, Minister Serame said the government’s financial year is drawing to an end but most ministries have so far spent less than 80 percent of their allocated development budget while some have used less than 20 percent of it. She named the Department of Administration of Justice, the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Parliament, and the Ministry of Youth among those that have used less than 20 percent of their development budget.

“Generally, after we allocate the budget, the recurrent budget, which is the operational budget, we usually spend almost all of it,” Serame told journalists at a briefing on Wednesday. “Of course, we are still concerned whether we are really spending it most efficiently.” She added that the development budget has over time proved to be an issue. “In the 2022/2023 budget, I presented a development budget of over P16 billion. As at 31st January 2023, 65.4 percent had been spent,” she said Minister Serame said, noting that this translates into P10.7 billion.

With almost P11 billion spent in the last 11 months and weeks before the financial year closes, the finance minister said it is practically impossible to spend the remaining balance in the time left. “This worries us because it points to a number of challenges relating to project implementation,” she asserted. “Of course, we continue to refine our methodology, including establishing if we really include projects in the budget that are ready for actual implementation.”

She added that this raises issues of appraisal and prioritisation, and sometimes inaccurate costing. “Sometimes you would need P2 billion for a particular project when you could have budgeted for P1.5 billion,” the minister explained. “Not trying to name and shame, but just to indicate that in terms of the development budget, as at the end of January, there were only two ministries that have spent over 80 percent of their development budget,” she said.

The finance minister noted a number of issues leading to underspending. “One of them is that we believe we budget for projects that are not actually 100 percent ready for implementation,” she said. Another issue is that most projects under the development budget have to go to tender. “There is a good number of projects that end up in litigation and we have projects that have been delayed by up to five years,” she said.

“It is a concern that most of our projects end up in court. This is why in the new Procurement Act, we changed the law such that we do not in the process undermine implementation of development projects.” In addition, Minister Serame said a Public Procurement Tribunal has been set up to quickly deal with such disputes where they arise. She disclosed that her ministry is upgrading the Development Project Monitoring to assist in monitoring the performance of project implementation.

According to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Coordinator in the Ministry of Finance, Boniface Mphetlhe, the finance ministry is also taking steps to ensure that monitoring of projects is up to par by capacitating officers. “We have realised that it is not all our officers and project managers who have adequate skills in terms of contract management or even project management,” said Mphetlhe at the same press brifieng. “This will even reduce the number of litigations that we have if the contracts are managed properly,” he said.

Tags: Boniface MphetlhePeggy Serame

Navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Economy
  • E-Edition
  • Companies & Markets
  • In Business With
  • Lifestyle
    • Motoring
  • Sports
  • Subscribe

Recent News

  • July 11th Edition
  • ‘International Tennis Tournaments Drive Economic Growth’- Thipe
  • No tax on 100% employer-borne medical excesses
  • Product Mix Drives Revenue Growth at Seed Co
  • Higher Education Ministry Suspends Aviation Sponsorships

Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • E-edition

© 2021 The Business Weekly & Review. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Economy
  • E-Edition
  • Companies & Markets
  • In Business With
  • Lifestyle
    • Motoring
  • Sports
  • Subscribe

© 2021 The Business Weekly & Review. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?