By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
Gambia’s Finance Minister Hon. Mambury Njie tabled a Supplementary Appropriation Bill (SAB 2021) totalling D1,767,400,000 at the National Assembly seeking Parliamentary approval. The SAB 2021 was tabled on 28th July 2021 featured a huge expenditure component from the Ministry of Works Transport and Infrastructure totalling more than D1.12 Billion GMD which accounts for over 63% of the total amount.
Last year [2020] the Gambia Government approved a total Appropriation Bill totalling D22,073,835,727 GMD which represents the total Government Local Fund (GLF). However, when Loans and Grants are added to the GLF the total Expenditure comes to D35,101,101,000 GMD. This means that the total Loans and Grants approved for 2021 was more than D13 million.
If the Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2021 is approved and added to the total Approved amount for 2021 then the Grand Total for this year will come to D36,868,501,000. Below is a summary table of the various 2021 Budget components including GLF, Loans, Grants and Supplementary Appropriation Bill. What is most surprising is the fact that no funds have been requested for Reparations. This raises the question of the Commission’s outstanding Reparations totalling over D200 Million will be paid to victims this year.
2020 Supplementary Appropriation Bill
In 2020 a Supplementary Appropriation Bill totalling D2.8 Billion was approved by the National Assembly raising the total approved expenditure from D21 Billion to 24.1 Billion for 2020. At the end of 2020, the Gambia Government published that they had spent only D20 Billion. This raises the question of why the finance minister requested an additional D2.8 Billion given that the Government underspent by over D4.4 Billion.
Below is the Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2021 submitted to the National Assembly today for approval.