President Julius Maada Bio and his Ministers
As President Julius Maada Bio’s travelling spree continues in his second term, records from the Annual Financial Statement of the Government of Sierra Leone have shown a huge amount of money spent on overseas travelling by the government of President Bio. The 2023 and 2024 Finance Acts have both seen increases in taxes on essential commodities, while government expenses keep on increasing at an alarming rate. The 2023 Annual Financial Statement revealed that the government of President Bio spent a whooping sum of Le87 billion in 2022 on overseas travel, which is a 20% increase from the Le24.710 Billion they Spent on same in 2021. In 2020, the Bio-led Government spent Le27.482 Billion on Overseas travel, less than the Le40.432 Billion they spent on travelling in 2019.
From the figures, one will note that while the people of Sierra Leone are reeling from global inflation, the government has refused to cut down on its expenditure, rather it keeps on spending on travelling just like that. In his recent Budget Address to Parliament the Finance Minister, Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, lamented excessive government expenditure.
“Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, there is an urgent need to strike an appropriate balance between revenue effort and expenditure management to reduce the budget deficit and Government borrowing from the banking system,” he stated. He noted that such a balance between revenue and government expenditure will help to arrest the rate of exchange rate depreciation and lower inflation.
“In addition, enhanced fiscal discipline will create the fiscal space needed to increase spending on Government priorities. Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, to achieve this balance requires deliberate efforts to intensify domestic revenue collection and prudently management and control of Government expenditures,” he reiterated.
