Dr. Saad Ali Shire, the Minister of Finance presented the national budget for 2023 to the House of Representatives for approval.
The Speaker of parliament Hon. Abdirizak Khalif Ahmed perused the budget documents and read to members the content.
According to the minister of finance this year financial plan has exceeded the 2022 budget by 5%.
Addressing the parliamentarians Dr. Saad read this year’s budget and informed the house about the financial challenges facing the country and the measures the ministry has put in place to streamline a sound fiscal policy 2023 budget.
Minister Saad read the budget “The national budget for 2023 is Somaliland Shillings 2.3 trillion which is a 5% increase from the budget of 2022.”
He revealed that when the local government, parastatal, and other independent department budgets are included the overall budget is Somaliland Shillings 3.58 trillion, this is a 4% increase in the 2022 financial plan.
The minister stated that the national budget when subdivided into the Central government allocation is 70.7%, the local government takes 16.5%, the parastatals budget 7.8%, and international organizations support is 5%.
He confirmed that the ministry of finance had taken important steps to aid the increase of revenue collection from all regions of the country.
“We have registered all buildings in the following towns Borama, Gabiley, Las’anod, Berbera, Hargeisa, Burao, and Erigavo for land rates taxes.” Said Dr. Saad.
He added that the finance ministry has embraced technology and created a portal for taxpayers to pay their revenue.
Ministry of Finance has also made it possible for taxpayers to pay their taxes through mobile money transfers such as Zaad and Edahab.
The minister revealed that plans are on to interconnect the system network with other organizations to ease the payment of taxes
