The 2019 Budget Policy Statement outlines the strategy of the government to continue implementing the Big Four plan which was initiated in the 2018/19 budget.
To this extent, there are key projects identified under the four key pillars, namely Manufacturing, Food and Nutrition Security, Health, and Housing.
The BPS was committed to the departmental committees to deliberate on it in line with their respective mandates and make recommendations to the Budget and Appropriations Committee.
The committee also held stakeholder consultations with the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Council of Governors on critical aspects of revenue sharing and division of revenue.
Further discussions were held with the National Treasury before this report was finalised. The recommendations from the discussions were captured in the report.
In the proposed budget, there are expenditure allocations for projects considered to be critical enablers of the Big Four plan such as Infrastructure, Education, Technology, and Innovation.
Expenditure allocations under the BPS are therefore geared towards ensuring that the policy objective of the Big Four plan is actualised within a five-year time frame (2018-2022).
To this extent, the committee examined the alignment of expenditure proposals with medium term strategic priorities of government as provided in the Big Four agenda; whether the outlined policy interventions meet the national development needs; as well as allocation of resources across sectors.
However, the committee notes that the current status of Big Four projects which were implemented in the 2018/19 budget is not very clear.
Though the BPS 2019 provides extensive programme information for all ministries, state departments, and agencies - including the delivery unit, key outputs, and performance indicators, the status of the projects in the current financial year has not been expressly provided probably due to the fact that the financial year is yet to come to an end.
It is, therefore, not easy to determine the status of the Big Four affiliated projects.
The committee further observes that though the country has registered impressive economic growth at 5.6 per cent over the past five-year period, achieving and sustaining GDP growth higher than six per cent could be much more challenging.
The growth will be supported by strong performance in agricultural and manufacturing activities, favourable weather, strong service sector, stable macroeconomic environment, public infrastructural developments, and sustained business confidence.
Excerpts of the Budget Committee on BPS 2019