MoF releases K5.2 billion for govt operations

The Ministry of Finance says it released K5.2 billion for development programmes and government operations in January 2018.

Ministry of finance public relations officer Chileshe Kandeta says of the total K5.2 billion,K1.6 billion was for personal emoluments for public service workers,K1.8 billion for debt service, while K1 billion was allocated for grants with K800 million going to key programmes, including capital projects.

Mr Kandeta explains that the K1.6 billion expenditure on personal emolumetnts includes the 2018 salary increment awarded to public service workers in January.

He says of the K1billion grant amount to various institutions,K233.2 million went to the ministry of agriculture for the Farmer Input Support Programme while the Food Reserve Agency received K172 million as final installment for clearing arrear accumulated in the 2016/17 marketing season.

He adds that the treasury also released K89.9 million for the Local Government Equalisation Fund to fiscally empower local authorities and ensure equitable distribution of resources.

Mr Kandeta points out that the allocation for the Local Government Equalisation Fund has been increased by 21.5% to K1.1 billion in the 2018 budget compared to K863 million in the 2017 budget.

He says public universities received a total of K92 million, of which the university of Zambia received K33.4 million,of which K16.7 million is for student loans and allowances, while the Copperbelt university received K38 million of which K23 million went towards students loans and allowances, with Mulungushi University receiving K2.4 million.

He states that releases towards cholera control amounted to K35 million in addition to the K64 million released in 2017.