Ethiopia’s parliamentarians express concern over fairness of proposed budget allocation federal regions for next fiscal year.
borkena
June 11, 2019
Members of Ethiopian House of Representatives debated the draft budget on Wednesday, reported Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
They raised questions on grounds that budgetary allocation practices in the past have caused conflicts for they lacked equity and fairness.
As well, parliamentarians noted that a research team was established one year ago to determine whether the budget allocation is fair or not.
One of the views reflected is that the budget allocation could raise a question of fairness and equity again if it is not done before the House of Federation completes budgetary allocation calculation improvement work.
Majority of parliamentarians argue that infrastructure development works in the federal regions does not have accurate criteria and that has contributed to a lack of fairness.
Budget work for the upcoming Ethiopian fiscal year on the basis of a practice that has been criticized on grounds of fairness and equity is sternly opposed, based on reports from state media.
One of the demands during the countrywide protest that led to a change within the ruling coalition was budgetary allocation that is not proportional to population size and finger was mainly pointed at Tigray region on grounds that TPLF, which dominated government before April 2018, unfairly takes more from government coffer and other sources.
The draft budget for the 2012 Ethiopian Year ( 2019 G.C) was tabled in the parliament on Tuesday, this week.
The Minister for Finance, Ahmed Shide, told parliamentarians that Ethiopia projects a 9 percent economic growth for the next fiscal year and that the budget is prepared on the basis of fiscal macro-economics.
The proposed budget is 387 billion Ethiopian Birr (that is about $US 12 billion) and the government intends to finance it mainly through tax revenue.
According to the draft bill, 63 percent of the budgetary allocation is intended for programs in education, health, and agriculture sectors, among others.
The budget deficit will be covered with borrowings from internal and external sources.
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