MARTIN’S FIRST BUDGET SPEECH

MBABANE – Martin Dlamini, the Minister of Finance, looks forward to his maiden budget speech, usually delivered in February.

Dlamini, the former governor of the Central Bank of Swaziland (CSB), said technocrats in his ministry were working tirelessly with other ministries and departments in coming up with an all inclusive budget.

The budget speech is delivered in the House of Assembly by the Minister of Finance. After that, the Assembly constitutes itself into a committee of the whole House to deliberate on the Appropriation Bill. It becomes an Appropriation Act when both chambers had passed the Bill. That would be the first time for Dlamini to deliver the budget speech.

He swapped positions with Majozi Sithole, the current Governor of the Central Bank of Swaziland. They were both appointed into their various positions by His Majesty the King in October. 

Sithole is expected to sit in the public gallery, just as the current Finance Minister used to do when he (Sithole) delivered the budget speech to the nation.
The budget speech will be preceded by the official opening of the first session of the 10th Parliament by His Majesty the King. 

It can be said that principal secretaries (PSs) from all the government ministries contribute immensely to the drafting of the budget alongside heads of departments.  After the passing of the budget by both chambers, the minister of Finance appoints PSs in writing to the position of controlling officers.  This gives them a legal mandate to oversee the administration of the budget in their various portfolios.

Over 60 per cent of the country’s revenue comes from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) collects over E3 billion and this money cannot finance the national budget of E11.5 billion.

“We are working very hard and spending sleepless nights trying to come up with a budget that will please the nation, a budget that will build the nation and take it forward,” the minister said in a brief interview with this newspaper.

For the current financial year, which ends on March 31, 2014, the budget stood at E11.5 billion. This time, there is a proposal from South Africa that the revenue sharing formula should be changed.  South Africa, the chief contributor to the fund, has also suggested that the fund be changed into a development aid.
That would mean the country would account to SACU for the money spent on projects related to development.

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