The Office of the Accountant General of Sierra Leone has released the Quarterly Fiscal Report for Q1 2023 revealing the total amount expended during the quarter ending on March 31, 2023, was SLe4 trillion (SLe3,996,006 thousand).

This includes various expenses such as operating expenses, finance costs for both domestic and external debt, arrears payments, and loan amortization.

Of the total operating expenses amounting to SLe3,841,937 thousand, SLe1,174,085 thousand was spent on wages and salaries, and SLe146,269 thousand on social security and employee benefits. Non-salary, non-interest recurrent expenditure accounted for SLe724,510 thousand, current transfers for SLe1,476,878 thousand, and capital expenditure and transfers, including interest on external debt, amounted to SLe320,194 thousand. It’s important to note that these expenses are specific to Consolidation Funds only.

The report by Richard S. Williams, the Accountant General, highlights that the finance cost includes SLe659,088 thousand for domestic interest and SLe26,406 thousand for foreign interest.

During the period under review, external grant receipts for projects totaled SLe3,817 thousand, while domestically generated revenue by agencies amounted to SLe1,399 thousand, resulting in a total revenue from projects and sub-vented agencies of SLe5,217 thousand.

In Quarter 1, 2023, the total consolidated revenue collected was SLe2,244,103 thousand, with SLe2,235,284 thousand being domestic revenue and SLe8,818 thousand being a grant from development partners.

The consolidated domestic revenues for Quarter 1, 2023, consisted of various sources. Tax income, profits, and capital gains contributed SLe874,047 thousand or 39% of the total domestic revenue. Customs and excise income accounted for SLe40,681 thousand or 2%, goods and services tax (GST) amounted to SLe453,945 thousand or 20%, taxes on international trade and transport were SLe270,934 thousand or 12%, TSA revenue was SLe316,184 thousand or 14%, and other taxes and non-tax revenue totaled SLe241,479 thousand or 11% of domestic revenue.