MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somali government’s budget for 2020 budget has increased by 18% amid the government stepped up efforts to implement financial reforms.
Speaking to media, Somali finance Minister Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh said the recently approved budget stands at $460 million.
The minister said the nation would have spent $390 million by the end of 2019.
Beileh noted that his ministry would present the estimates to lawmakers later this year.
In 2018, the domestic revenue of the Somali government increased by 85% in the last six months.
The Somali government has been working to establish legal and technical capacities for revenue generation since 2017.
According to a report by the Ministry early this year, the domestic revenue was up to $141 million in 2017 from $110 million in 2016 as some progress was made last year to improve the revenue.
The tax agreements have been reached with airlines and telecom companies, and an income tax exemption for parliamentarians has been reversed last year, giving the government more revenue.
The government is struggling to pay its external debt of about $5.2 billion, according to the IMF.
Somalia has not made a service or amortization payment since civil war broke out more than 25 years ago.
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