Zanzibar’s 2017/18 budget focuses on reforms, improving social services

What you need to know:

The minister made the statement yesterday when he was winding up tabling the main budget of the Government of Zanzibar for the year 2017-2018.

Zanzibar. The Minister for Finance and Planning in the Government of Zanzibar, Dr Khalid Salum Mohammed, said the budget he tabled on Monday was of reforms and improving social services.

The minister made the statement yesterday when he was winding up tabling the main budget of the Government of Zanzibar for the year 2017-2018.

Dr Khalid, who spent about 35 minutes presenting the budget in the ongoing session of the House of Representatives at Chukwani, on the outskirts of Zanzibar, said the budget had every reason to be given such a name because it contained major reforms.

He said Sh1.84 trillion is expected to be spent in the 2017-2018 budget.

He substantiated that Sh324.7 billion would be spent on salaries of civil servants, Sh64.3 billion would be used for performance subsidies, Sh101.7 billion for other normal work uses, Sh100 billion for social development fund and Sh116 billion for development contribution.

“However, the government has allocated Sh10 billion, which will be spent on pension funds in the next fiscal year. We are currently in the process of distributing the cash as it will be made public after the completion of the process,” he said.

He said the increased rate of 6.8 percent of internal tax collections was bigger compared to Sh841.5 billion of the year 2016-2017, a move that signalled the lower rate of depending on funds from donors.

He said Sh590.8 billion would expectedly be spent on normal work and Sh496.6 billion would be used for development purposes for the year 2017-2018.

Dr Khalid explained that from the amount to be spent this year, Sh675.8 billion is expected to be collected from internal financial sources, including the Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB), which is tasked to collect Sh347.3 billion and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is estimated to collect Sh258.7 billion as tax collections while other revenue collections from various financial sources are approximated to reach to Sh69.8 billion.

Besides that, he said the government was expecting to receive a total of Sh380.5 billion from development partners. Of the cash, according to the minister, Sh82.2 billion is a subsidy and Sh298.3 billion will be obtained through loans.