K2.8bil revenue rise tipped

By NATHAN WOTI

REVENUE, excluding development partner grants, is projected to increase this year (2024) by K2.8 billion, taking total revenue for taxes alone to K18 billion (K16 billion in 2023) according to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Asian development outlook which was launched on Wednesday.
This represent 2.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and will be generated mainly from taxes on profits, salaries, and wages, and non-tax revenue according to Asian Development Bank.
Expenditure will grow less by K1.86 billion, which again represents 1.8 per cent in GDP.
The capital budget allocation is projected to increase by 9.0 per cent, the operations budget by 8.0 per cent, and payroll bill by 1.3 per cent.
These projections are, however, at risk because they do not consider the damage from social unrest and potential Government assistance to affected business.
Meanwhile, the civil unrest and the ongoing challenges such as power supply disruptions have clouded the Bank’s economic outlook.
The recent strikes by law enforcement officers over pay cut which resulted in looting and damaging of retail shops throughout the country impacted a total of 53 businesses.
An estimated damages of about K1.2 billion (1.2 per cent GDP), which saw over 2,000 jobs lost.
These losses, combined with shaken investor and consumer confidence, will decrease spending.
And with the persisting foreign exchange restrictions will cause delays and higher costs for businesses in rebuilding lost capacity, replenishing stocks, and expanding operations.
The ADB report also highlights the significant impact of power supply outage and water supply shortage on businesses, indicating an escalating operational costs and affecting competitiveness, especially in Lae, which is the country’s industrial hub.
Power supply outage and water shortage has caused manufacturing companies to
Furthermore, mobility across the country was impacted in February and March due mainly to Puma Energy Limited’s inability to acquire and bring in adequate supplies of jet fuel and general fuel into the country.
This has severely impacted travelling public, businesses and transport sector.