Govt to reduce district, provincial funding

By MALUM NALU
THE Government will cut funds paid to provinces and districts in its 100-day plan as there are only three months left before the tabling of the 2018 budget in November.
Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel said there would be reductions in the provincial services improvement programme (PSIP) funding of K5 million per province and district services improvement programme (PSIP) funding of K10 million per district.
He said this was expected to save the government K886 million.
The K10,000 ward services improvement programme will be maintained.
Abel will reveal more details when he tables the Supplementary Budget in Parliament next month.
“This will only be a temporary cut. We want to maintain our commitment at K10 million per year for each district, K5 million for each province, but we just have to restructure the timing of it,” he said.
“There are only three months left to go this year. It is going to be fiscally impossible to spend K10 million anywhere, and we need to address these budgetary issues. There will be cuts there. The details will come in the Supplementary Budget.”
Abel said the services improvement programme funding was significant to the budget.
“We want to show our commitment to this fiscal discipline by cutting where it impacts many of us the most – and that’s the services improvement programme through which many of us have been able to get things done in our district.