MONROVIA: President George Manneh Weah has signed into law the National Budget for the 2023 Fiscal Year following its passage by the National Legislature.
After four (4) months in the fiscal budget period (January-December), the Liberian leader, on Monday, April 10, 2023, signed the Budget of L$122,139,108,000.00 same being US$782,943,000.00.
Following months of scrutiny, including public hearings, both Houses of the 54th National Legislature concurred and submitted the budget to the Office of the President for signature.
In December, 2022, the Executive Branch of Government, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, submitted the proposed National Budget for the Fiscal year 2023 in the amount of US$777.9 million to the Legislature as required by law.
The total resource envelop of the Weah`s proposed Weah Budget consisted of US$667.9 as domestic revenue (85% of the budget amount), while external resources on-budget account for US110 or 14.1% of the proposed budget cost of US$777.9 million.
US$295.6 million of the amount has been set aside for salaries for all 65,000 government employees and all other personnel related expenditures.
The Public Sector Investment Projects budget is US$153.99 million, key of which includes a US$46 million allocation for the TRANSCO CLSG power grid, which the world bank has pinned its hopes on to drive Liberia`s future economic development; US$26.82 million for next year’s elections.
The Weah government, regarding the road fund budget usage, has US$10 million allocated for the construction of roads and bridges and US$14 million as government contribution for the South Eastern Corridor Roads Asset Management Project (SECRANP).
The 2023 National Budget accounts for three separate revenue envelopes, including Tax Revenue and non-Tax Revenue as well as External Resources.
Accordingly, the budget subsequently becomes law once printed into handbills.