By James Chatim

Central Equatoria State Minister of Finance, Ms. Vianna Kakuli Aggrey presented the state draft budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025 to the assembly yesterday.

The resource envelope for the FY 2024/2025 amounts to SSP 46 billion.

Kakuli told the state lawmakers that the proposed draft budget would address the challenges experienced during the implementation of the previous budget of FY 2023/2024.

She said the plans and programs incorporated in this year’s budget were drawn from the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), national development plan 2021-2024, State development plan 2021-2024 and the state policy documents.

According to her, the incorporated plans and programs could direct the State’s focus on improving the lives of its citizens and deliver services in the sectors of education, health, water, and sanitation.

“The state Ministry of Finance, Planning and Investment engaged the technocrats of the State Government Spending Agencies for the preparation of the draft Budget. In the course of the preparation, the technocrats were able to review the State Tax Rates and Charges Schedule of the previous financial year while taking into account the inflation rate. They also aligned their annual plans, programs and activities to the strategic plans of the respective institutions and the State development plan 2021-2024,” Ms. Kakuli explained.

Meanwhile, the resource envelope for the FY 2024/2025 amounts to SSP 46 billion which is intended to be generated from two major sources; the national government grants SSP 26 billion constitutes 57 percent, according to the minister.

She continued that the projected grants were a 5 percent computation of the previous financial year’s grants given the fact that there was no ceiling circulated to the States and the Administrative Areas in the fiscal year 2024/2025.

Another source of the resource envelope is the State-owned revenue which is expected to generate SSP 19 billion, constituting 43 percent of the budget.

 “These were the practical revenue projections by each of the tax and non-tax revenue-generating institutions,” Minister Kakuli explained.

She said to ensure effective implementation of this year’s budget, her ministry would pursue policies that raise revenue collection, strengthen fiscal discipline and public procurement procedures to ensure budget-based contracting, value for money, and elimination off-budget spending.     

 “I am therefore calling upon the Honorable August House to deliberate and approve the Central Equatoria State draft budget, Appropriation Bill and the Tax Rates and Charges Schedule for the FY 2024/2025 to enable the state government to deliver services to its people,” she added.