17 minutes agoPDK: 2023 budget, poor copy of 2022
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The Co-ordinator of the Finance Department in the Cabinet for Good Governance, Arben Mustafa, has criticised the Government of Kosovo for lack of vision in drafting the draft budget for 1923. Mustafa, at a media conference, said this draft budget does not reflect the demands of Kosovo citizens in the economy, job creation and promotion [...]
Mustafa, at a media conference, said this draft budget does not reflect the demands of Kosovo citizens in the economy, job creation and increased quality of life.
This budget could mostly be called a poor copy of 2022, because in most cases it's a 2022 repeat. This budget lacks development ambition, lacks orientation as to where Kosovo will be at the end of 2023, he stressed.
Mustafa added that the proposed draft budget in no way reflects a developmental character strategy for the country, but that “is largely based on spending today, which does not create conditions for long-term development”.
This Government is by no means able to come up with a concrete vision showing where it aims to lead the country in the remaining years of its mandate. From what is being seen, this Government will be remembered only for the economic expense of unthinking initiatives, with long-term effects, which will leave no trace of the long-term growth of the welfare of Kosovo citizens”, he said.
According to Mustafa, this year's budget is resulting higher compared to the preliminary years mainly because of price hikes in the economy and not because of increased economic activity.
The draft budget report has seen an economic growth of 5.5% for 2023, which represents almost double the growth rate from the current year, and was not consistent with the projections of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as the most creditable institutions, which suggest that economic growth in 2023 is not expected to be higher than about 3%<18x1>, he added.
Mustafa says the “forecasts inflated” of economic growth in these fragile conditions are a high risk for citizens and Kosovo.
It's a concrete statement in 2022, when this very big-word Government had introduced the budgeted capital investment figure of over 700m euros, while by now when the bulk of 2022 has passed, capital investments accomplished do not result in more than 200m euros. Therefore, instead of big numbers and words, the country's government should show how it aims to improve its capacities to realise those investments it has envisioned in the” budget, he added.
Mustafa considers that Kosovo will have a lost year because, according to him, the Government is taking two years to accomplish the jobs that should be completed within a year.
The only difference is that jobs that were not completed in 2022, in 2023, will have to be completed at a much higher cost to the state budget because of increasing building materials prices, which means losing public money”, he said.
The most stable and fair solution in these conditions would be to raise salaries, pensions and social aid for at least as much as the overall price rate has increased. However, it seems that the Government has decided to reject this idea even for 1923, since it has not planned a budget that would enable such growth. With that, the Government has either decided to comply with the poverty of citizens from price hikes, or perhaps is planning to continue to practice the once package aid for certain categories of citizens, which have not been effective in addressing their” needs, Mustafa stressed.
Mustafa said the practice of the government's economic measures company Kurti to try to reduce social discontent will continue even during 2023, given the fact that the Government has allocated 273m euros without any specific destination, that means that will be left to ministers to spend at their own convenience.
This is unprecedented and raises too many doubts about how citizen tax money is being managed. These money ministers will be able to spend without any branch surveillance from the Parliament. Such a practice has recently been criticised by the International Monetary Fund, which has called for increased transparency and benefit for citizens in the budget management process by the Government of Kosovo”, he said.
Mustafa said in the 2023 budget project, the Government of Kosovo has not budgeted means for either the veting process or the Bureau for Confiscating Unjustified Riches.
“has not envisioned means for reforms in the Kosovo Police and refreshing the structure through early retirement and notes a complete disregard for the National Security Strategy, which was recently adopted. In health, the paradox is that the budget is being created, but there is no minister for planning and implementation of this budget. The minister is policymakers, but if he's not there to do this, who's doing the policy planning for citizens now when they need so much health care. In terms of capital projects in this sector, no project was completed in 2022, nor was it designed to complete in 2023 or 2024. This is the precise indication that there is no achievement so far, but there will not be until the end of the government's mandate always under this budget. For major projects that are promoted in the government programme, such as health insurance or health intelligence system there is no budgetary indicator showing seriousness or ambition to implement these” projects, he said.
