State disburses K793 billion
By KASUBA MULENGAGOVERNMENT last month disbursed K793 billion for various development programmes and operations in all ministries, provinces and spending agencies. This brought the total releases under the new budget cycle which commenced in January this year to K1.964 trillion.
Ministry of Finance and National Planning public relations officer Chileshe Kandeta said in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday that the release of the funds is in line with his ministry’s commitment to sharing information on monthly budget disbursements.
“The disbursement of K793 billion in February 2010 brings the total budget releases to K1.964 trillion in the new budget cycle which began in January in line with the spirit of the new budget cycle which aims at fostering an effective, transparent and accountable budgetary system in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Kandeta said out of the K793 billion, the Ministry of Health received K79.5 billion of which the University Teaching Hospital got K6 billion, Ndola Central Hospital K2 billion, Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital K962 million, Kitwe Central Hospital K1.9 billion and the Cancer Diseases Hospital K523 million.
Under the provincial hospitals and district management teams disbursements, Central Province received K5.4 billion, Eastern K6.6 billion, Luapula K4.3 billion, Lusaka K7.3 billion, North-Western K4.9 billion, Northern K6.6 billion, Southern K11 billion and Western Province K4.7 billion.
Mr Kandeta said the loans and investment portfolio was funded K110 billion of which the Road Development Agency (RDA) received K100.4 billion.
“Under the RDA, the Rural Development Programme and Road Rehabilitation component received K50 Billion while the routine maintenance (Road Fund) got K50.4 billion. The remaining K97 billion comprised contributions to international organisations,” Mr Kandeta said.
The Ministry of Local Government and Housing received K28 billion of which K14.2 billion was paid as support to institutions under the same ministry.
The Ministry of Justice got K32.9 billion out of which K10 billion was for law reforms (National Constitutional Conference) while K20 billion went towards compensation and awards.
The Anti-Corruption Commission received K2 billion, Office of the Auditor General K1.2 billion, National Assembly K15.8 billion of which K1.2 billion was for support to institutions with another K1.2 billion going for expenses towards legislative affairs.
Mr Kandeta said the Office of the Vice-President received K5.8 billion of which K4 billion was allocated to disaster response activities while the remainder went to other operational issues.
The Ministry of Finance and National Planning got K80.1 billion out of which K21.5 billion went towards dismantling arrears for money owed to suppliers of goods and services.
Under the same ministry’s budget release, K2.9 billion went towards implementation of a programme for social statistics collection under the Central Statistical Office while K1.4 billion was released for supporting the process of the Sixth National Development Plan.
Mr Kandeta said K27 billion was channelled to supporting institutions like the Zambia Revenue Authority, Revenue Appeals Tribunal, Zambia Public Procurement Authority, Securities and Exchange Commission, Lusaka Stock Exchange, National Economic Advisory Council, National Road Fund Agency and the Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Programme (PEMFA).
The Ministry of Home Affairs received K14.7 billion of which K8 billion went towards issuance of national identity documents while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs got K25 billion for operations at the headquarters and personal emoluments in missions abroad.
The Judiciary received K6.2 billion while the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services got K2.7 billion of which K833 million was for the Food Security Pack Programme.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives got K54 billion of which the Farmer Input Support Programme received K41.5 billion.
Mr Kandeta said the Ministry of Education received K191 billion of which basic schools in Lusaka Province got K11.6 billion while high schools got K4 billion.
Copperbelt-based basic schools received K23 billion, high schools K4.4 billion and teacher education institutions K1.3 billion.
Central Province basic schools received K17 billion, high schools K2.9 billion with teacher education institutions getting K558 million.
Basic schools in Northern Province received K20 billion, high schools K3.9 billion and teacher education institutions K446 million.
Western Province basic schools got K10 billion, high schools K2 billion and teacher education institutions K290 million. Eastern Province basic schools received K3.5 billion with teachers’ training institutions getting K325 million.
Basic schools in Luapula Province got K9.8 billion, high schools K2.3 billion and teacher education institutions K263 million. North-Western Province basic schools got K8.5 billion, high schools K3.4 billion and education institutions for teachers K469 million.
Southern Province basic schools got K17.2 billion, high schools K3.8 billion while teacher education institutions got K555 million.
Mr Kandeta said other major resources went to the Ministry of Communications and Transport which received K3.6 billion, Ministry of Works and Supply K6.2 billion, Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training K3.6 billion, Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources K2.9 billion with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development receiving K4.5 billion.
At provincial administration level, Lusaka received K1.2 billion, Copperbelt K1.5 billion, Central K1 billion, Northern K1.5 billion, Western K1 billion, Eastern K1.2 billion, Luapula K1.1 billion, North-Western K974 million and Southern Province K1.4 billion.
Mr Kandeta said Government has continued to remain committed to timely debt amortisation to ensure debt sustainability over the long run.
He said last month, Government released K93 billion for constitutional and statutory expenditure of which K4 billion went for servicing multilateral external debt, K8.6 billion for non-Paris Club bilateral debt, K29.5 billion for interest payments on treasury bills and K50.7 billion for interest payments on Government bonds.
“The ministry takes this opportunity to urge the general public to keep track of resources which are being released by the treasury in order to help in monitoring the implementation of development programmes,” Mr Kandeta said.
He said the appeal is on account of the ministry’s belief that by sharing information, it will be facilitating a performance-based budget system which integrates measures of programme performance with costs associated with such programmes.
In January, Government disbursed K1.171 trillion to ministries, provinces and spending agencies.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
