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On Friday 11 November 2022, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, Dennis K. Vandi presented a Budget of NLe9.35 billion to parliament for the Financial Year 2023.
In the Budget, domestic revenue for the financial year 2023 is projected at NLe9.35 billion (14.0 percent of GDP).
Projected domestic revenue, Income Taxes will contribute NLe3.7 billion; Goods and Services Tax (GST) NLe1.8 billion; Customs and Excise Revenue NLe1.7 billion; Mining Revenues NLe576.8 million; Royalty on Fisheries NLe179.0 million; Parastatals Dividends, including cargo tracking NLe196.0 million; TSA Agencies NLe801.5 million; and Road User Charges NLe197.9 million.
Grants are projected to amount to NLe3.8 billion. Of the grants, budget support to be provided by the World Bank will amount to NLe1.8 billion and project grants of NLe2.0 billion.
The budget will fund the 2023 general elections, hence, the composition and allocation of Government expenditure for the 2023 financial year reflect these priority areas.
On education, government is allocating a total of NLe2.1 billion to the education sector, accounting for 22 percent of the total discretionary budget to support basic, secondary, higher and TVET education.
This amount includes NLe887.7 million as salaries for teachers and NLe347.3 million as salaries for employees of tertiary education institutions.
On health, government is allocating a total of NLe938.7 million to the health sector, accounting for 10.0 percent of total discretionary expenditure, of which NLe759.4 million is allocated to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.The allocation includes NLe618.5 million as salaries for health workers.
On agriculture, government is allocating NLe252.5 million to the Agriculture sector. Of this amount, NLe18.7 million is for the salaries of staff of the Ministry of Agriculture.
From the recurrent budget, government is allocating NLe39.2 million to support agricultural productivity and livestock development and NLe21.8 million for agricultural research. Transfers to local councils for the sector will amount to NLe11.9 million.
On fisheries and marine resources, government is allocating NLe30.7 million to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, of which NLe2.8 million is salaries for staff and NLe17.9 million to support artisanal fishing and the promotion of fish export activities.
On tourism and culture, a total amount of NLe22.1 million is allocated to the tourism sector, of which NLe10.0 million is for staff salaries and NLe5.4 million as support towards the National Tourist Board, NLe3.0 million to the Monuments and Relics Commission and NLe1.7 million to the National Railway Museum.
On roads, government is allocating NLe79.0 million from the domestic capital budget to the Sierra Leone Roads Authority for spot improvement and re-gravelling of trunk roads, completion of township roads, construction of major culverts and rehabilitation of critical bridges in Freetown as well as the ongoing construction and completion of major trunk roads; including the Bandajuma-Pujehun-Gbondapi Road, Kenema-Zimmi Road, Pendembu-Kailahun Road, Hill-side By-pass Road, Lumley-Tokeh Road, Bo-Tinkonko Road, Tagrin-Lungi-Conakry-Dee Road and Kpetema-Mattru Jong Road.
