THT: There has been a decline in the economy of Somaliland as a whole, which has affected next year’s National Budget.
This was disclosed after a briefing to the House of Representatives financial committee by the Somaliland minister of Finance Dr Saad Ali Shire.
After the closed door meeting the minister and chair of the parliamentary finance committee MP Omar Sanweyne held a joint presser outside parliament buildings in Hargeisa.
“After briefing by the finance minister we have ascertained that the annual budget has fallen by no more than 10%, MP Omar Sanweyne said
“The Minister has told us that this year’s budget will be reduced by no more than 10%, due to a number of reasons beyond our control, Among them current Coronavirus Pandemic ” said MP Omar San-weyne.
According Minister Dr. Saad Ali Shire “The Financial Governance Act dictates that every year when we make a budget we should share information with Parliament, especially the Finance Committee, so our meeting focused on that and more specifically the impact of Covid_19 on the Somaliland economy.”
On his briefing to the select committee Minister Saad said, “We have reported on the current economic situation, how we see the forecast and what the situation will be like in the next three years, 2021, 2022, 2023, we have explained this well and we have agreed. “The biggest problem we have now is coronavirus infection. We hope that God will make it easier for us to get back to normal. It will take us several years to get back to normal.”
Adding that “When the disease came, the government took a number of steps to alleviate the problem, which affected the economy. We stopped flights and people coming to us. We closed schools. , Public places, the hospitality industry has been affected, then there has been a recession thence a decline in Government revenue, why? “Government revenue comes from the economy (country), and we hope that next year will change and we will return to the level of economic growth.”