Gov'ts Three-Year Programme : Content, Implementation Evaluated

As a measure to improve on the execution of State projects, government adopted the futuristic approach which permits for better programming. Known as the budgetary orientation debate, it enables legislators to scrutinise the three-year programme (2025-2027) proposed by government. The plenary sitting in which the aforementioned debate took place yesterday July 9, 2024 was chaired by the Senate President, Marcel Niat Njifenji.
Explaining the content of the 2025-2027 Medium Term Budgeting and Economic Planning Paper, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze said it encompasses government policies and fiscal measures as predicated in the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy (NDS30) and the Economic and Financial Programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Promoting good governance, accelerating decentralisation, fast tracking the reconstruction of the North West, South West and Far North Regions, enhancing access to basic social amenities and completing ongoing major projects are considered in the three-year term document. In fact, every sector, from education, to health, energy and infrastructure is in the document, with revenue and control mechanisms as well.  Support measures, challenges as well as prospects for improving the usefulness and the effectiveness of the Budget Policy Debate.
To the Minister, the overall objective of government’s fiscal policy, in spite of the adverse global economic environment, is to streamline public finances in accordance with the economic and financial programme with IMF and the priority areas of the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy.  The Minister reiterated that to attain that goal, government’s fiscal policy will progressively seek to increase non-oil revenue from 13.6% of GDP in 2024 to 14.4% of GDP in 2027, up from 14...