Minister of Finance, Iipumbu Shiimi, has said expenditure projections over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) have accounted for significant policy priorities and adjustments.

Shiimi said this when he delivered the Financial Year (FY) 2022/23 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement before Parliament here on Tuesday.

He said some of these policy priorities and adjustments are the expenditure ceilings that have incorporated the agreed 3.0 per cent general salary and benefits adjustments for civil servants in the FY2022/23.

The expenditure projections also accounted for cushioning the most vulnerable members of society against rising food prices.

“For this, N.dollars 5.2 million has been included in the budget of the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare to increase the monthly Conditional Income Grant for former food bank recipients from N.dollars 500 to N.dollars 600 effective in October 2022,” Shiimi said.

The minister said funding of N.dollars 97 million has further been incorporated to increase the Disability Grant for beneficiaries under the age of 18 from N.dollars 250 to N.dollars 1 300, effective from the 2023/24 financial year.

“Cognisant of the cost of living pressures, further provision has been made to increase the monthly Old Age Grant and the Disability Grant as well as the Orphan and Vulnerable Children Grant by N.dolllars 100 effective 2023/24 – should resources permit,” Shiimi stated.

Provision has also been made for the upcoming Presidential, National Assembly as well as Regional and Local Authority Elections to be held in 2024 and beyond.

The allocations towards the Public Service Employee Medical Aid Scheme (PSEMAS) have been reduced by N.dollars 1 billion over a two-year period (FY 2023/24 to 2024/25) to capture expected gains from envisaged reforms to the benefit structure of the scheme, Shiimi said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency