ZANZIBAR UNVEILS 830BN/- DONOR-WEANING BUDGET

Zanzibar Finance Minister, Omar Yussuf Mzee.

Zanzibar Finance Minister, Mr Omar Yussuf Mzee, unveiled his budget proposals, saying it will pave way towards improving the economy, supporting the elderly, creating jobs and longterm prosperity without relying much on foreign support.

“It is a social self-reliance budget with the objective to drive people to work hard,” Mr Mzee said in the House as he outlined the 830bn/- budget estimates, up from 708.7bn/- in this fiscal year.

Tabling the 2015/2016 budget estimates before members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives and invited guests, including diplomats from foreign embassies in the country, Mr Mzee said there was no tax increment proposed.

He said the mandatory expenditure includes retirement package amounting to 11bn/- and 8.5bn/- for retirement payments for members of the House and other politicians.

“We have also committed expenditures amounting to 42,5bn/- which include 7.5bn/- for this year’s general elections, 8.0bn/- for education expenses following the abolition of fees in primary schools,” said Mr Mzee.

The finance minister said care for the elderly had been improved and from April 1, 2016, the government would start paying universal pension to all old citizens aged 70 years and above.

“This universal pension will 20,000/- per month and will be granted to every eligible old citizen, regardless of his current income.

A total of 1.65 billion/- have been earmarked for this purpose,” he said. He said Government Budget Support (GBS) support had played an important role in the budget framework, especially in the execution of development projects.

“Unfortunately, in recent years GBS has encountered many challenges due to various reasons, including fiscal difficulties with some of the development partners; global economic dynamics including the world financial crisis, and challenges on good governance including allegations of major corruption cases in Tanzania,” he said, adding, “The most recent issue which led to the development partners to withhold their disbursements for GBS is the Tegeta Escrow Account scandal in Tanzania mainland.

While none of the scandals had anything to do with Zanzibar, the decision to withhold disbursements had far-reaching budgetary implications for Zanzibar.”

Mr Mzee said that increasing tax collections included use of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs), soon to take off in 2015/16 and expected to net a total of 6.0 bn/-.

He said it was also proposed to impose a special tax for the purpose of enhancing infrastructure (Infrastructure Tax), adding that the revenue collected from this tax will be kept in a special fund.

“Out of the amount expected from the Infrastructure Tax, 10bn/- is expected from TRA’s Customs department while the balance of 15bn/- will be from laws administered by ZRB,” he said.

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