MBABANE – The Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, has assured government suppliers that outstanding payments will be made available in the next two to three weeks.
The minister said the arrears would be settled through loans currently at the finalisation stage.
“Once these loans come in, government suppliers will be paid,” he said.
He explained that since the loans had already passed through Parliament and been gazetted, they were now expected to take effect.
“We are finalising the loan agreements with the OPEC Fund and the AfDB, and once those are done – hopefully in two to three weeks – that money will come in and we will be in a much better position to settle all of our arrears,” Rijkenberg said.
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Next year’s budget to be done through IFMIS
MBABANE – The Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, says government is well on its way to processing the upcoming national budget through IFMIS.
He highlighted that the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) processing was progressing well, though there was still a need for some manoeuvring to determine whether this year’s budget would fully run through the system.
“Everyone has dug in their heels and said they are doing IFMIS this coming year, meaning we have a whole new digital system for the budget. We are transforming the way we do paperwork in government, from a very paper-driven process to a digital system,” he said.
He noted that, as stated previously, Rwanda was assisting government with IFMIS. “We are very motivated to do the upcoming budget on this new system,” he added.
He acknowledged that there were still some issues to resolve, but government had received training and the Rwanda team government had benchmarked from is currently in the country to assist where challenges arise.
“At the end, we are going to have a fantastic government system with no paperwork – from the budget process all the way through procurement, checking, tendering and finally payment at Treasury,” he said.
Rijkenberg said the system would be transparent and paperless, ensuring accountability.
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... cash flow is constrained – Finance minister
MBABANE – Minister for Finance Neal Rijkenberg revealed that the recent civil service salary review has left the government’s cash flow constrained.
The minister noted that because of the review, next year’s budget would be tight, with limited room for additional expenditure. He highlighted this in his latest Finance in Focus, where he explained that, from a mid-term budget review perspective, there was no major issue. However, the salary review, which had come thereafter, had once again placed pressure on government’s cash flow.
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Members of Public Sector Unions during the signing of the salary review agreement in October. (Courtesy pic)