Erstwhile Gambia’s finance minister Amadou Sanneh has hinted that the recently revised budget is unsustainable as the country has not built resilience for revenue creation.
“You(government)are not expecting all your revenues to come. And according to the minister, D2.3bn they could not get,” ex-finance minister Amadou Sanneh said in an interview with JollofNews.
He continued: “And if you observe, the sale of Mega Bank (D1.5bn) is not an income to be earned every year. Once sold off, it’s over. And that’s the only bank they can dispose of. They wouldn’t sell Central Bank.”
He lamented that the country’s expected revenue has fallen.
“So, you don’t expect the same amount that used to be generated in 2017/18 to continue,” Mr. Sanneh pointed out.
He added: “Our donors have other priorities. They are supporting Ukraine. They have their own economies to contend with. If you build dependence on just donor income…You don’t build your resilience. You don’t build your ports. You don’t build your industries. Then, what do you see? A big deficit of D4.4bn. How do you finance it? Through treasury bills and loans? How can you sustain a country like that?”
