The Council of Ministers has approved a budget that proposes 476 billion Br in federal spending, which is 23pc higher than the current fiscal year. The proposed federal budget allocates 160.4 billion Br for capital expenditures and 133.3 billion Br for recurrent spending, 30 billion and 24 billion Br more than was allocated for the current fiscal year, respectively. It also allocated 176 billion Br for regional block grants and six billion Birr for sustainable Development Goal (sDG) projects. During the session that was held this saturday, the Council approved the bill and endorsed it to the parliament for legislation. The new budget is highly influenced by fears of the economic repercussions that could be caused by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Prepared by the Ministry of Finance, the bill aims to cover a little over half of the budget with domestic tax revenues, while 100 billion Br will be sourced with external loans. In terms of foreign currency, the budget stands at 13.7 billion dollars, a slight increase from the current fiscal year's 13.4 billion dollars and a considerable increase from the 12.6 billion dollars that was allocated two years ago.
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