By Fatou Sillah
The National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) has proposed cutting D72.2 million from the National Audit Office’s proposed D542.6 million budget for 2027, as part of a broader series of adjustments to government spending estimates.
According to the committee’s consolidated report on the 2027 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, presented by its chairperson, Alagie S. Darboe, the proposed reduction totals D72,188,440, comprising D32,988,440 in recurrent expenditure and D39.2 million in development spending.
If approved, the cuts would reduce the National Audit Office’s proposed allocation to approximately D470.4 million.
“The Committee proposed the reductions of the sum of D32,988,440 from the recurrent budget and the sum of D39,200,000 from its development budget, amounting to a total deduction of the sum of D72,188,440,” the report stated.
The committee also recommended several budgetary reallocations affecting the Office of the Vice President and other government institutions.
For the Office of the Vice President, FPAC proposed transferring D2.5 million from its recurrent budget, along with D4.5 million in savings identified by the committee, to personnel emoluments for the National Centre for the Coordination of Early Warning.
The committee further recommended allocating an additional D3 million to personnel emoluments for the National Population Secretariat.
Another D8 million from the committee’s identified savings would be directed to the Social Protection Secretariat’s development budget to finance a project supporting vulnerable young people and women.
At the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the committee proposed reductions totaling D6.9 million, including D2.4 million from recurrent expenditure and D4.5 million from development spending.
The Office of the Ombudsman would also face a proposed D300,000 reduction in its recurrent budget, while Centralized Services would see its allocation reduced by D5,141,742.
The committee additionally recommended cutting D2.3 million from the budget of the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reforms and Policy Coordination, comprising D1.6 million in recurrent expenditure and D700,000 in development spending.
Of the D2.3 million adjustment, the committee proposed reallocating D500,000 toward the purchase of a generator and D200,000 toward the construction of an office building.
The proposed changes form part of FPAC’s review of the government’s 2027 spending estimates and remain subject to consideration and approval by the National Assembly.
Comments are closed.