Sinkamba describes the 2016 national budget as the most consumptive budget in decades

Peter Sinkamba

The opposition green party has the described the 2016 national budget presented to parliament yesterday as the most consumptive budget in decades.

Party president peter Sinkamba says finance minister Felix Mutati’s 2018 budget has thrown to the wind tenets and benchmarks set by the seventh national development plan (SNDP).

Mr. Sinkamba says this has brought into question not only the relevance of this planning platform to development planning but also the predictability and coherence of the inter-ministerial coordination.

He explains that perusal of the seventh national development plan shows that the PF government has committed itself to mobilize resources from domestic revenues, borrowing and grants totaling k341.3 billion for the five year duration of the plan implementation.

Mr. Sinkamba says on average, this is k68.3 billion annually, although for the 2018 financial year, the SNDP has allocated k66.6 billion.

He says being the first budget under the SNDP; the 2018 budget presents a litmus test on coherence and predictability of the PF government to attainment of SNDP aims, objectives and strategies.

Mr. Sinkamba has stated that it is shocking that barely 5 months after flamboyant launch of the SNDP the finance minister has thrown the wind benchmarks set by the SNDP by presenting a k71.6 billion, which is almost 7.5% above of k66.6 billion dictated through the SNDP threshold.

He says the 2018 budget estimate presented by the finance minister is not only above the 2018 SNDP threshold but also above the five-year average capped at k68billion.