Govt sector asked to rationalize spending,expenses

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Finance ministry cites lack of liquidity

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 10: The Ministry of Finance called on all government agencies to rationalize spending and control expenditures; without prejudice to the services they provide in accordance with the decisions of the Council of Ministers, especially in light of the current economic conditions that the country is going through, particularly the lack of liquidity that negatively affects the State’s general budget and prompted government agencies to coordinate their efforts in rationalizing expenditures, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting sources.

According to sources, the Ministry of Finance sent letters to ministries and government agencies on setting the spending ceilings in the draft budgets of ministries, government departments, affiliated bodies and independent institutions for the next fiscal year — 2023/2024. The ministry also urged the government agencies to review the fees for the services they provide in order to increase these fees in proportion to the cost, raise the efficiency of collecting government revenues and debts, prioritize construction projects and contracts when preparing the draft budgets, and estimate the number of new appointees with the commitment to stick to this approximation during the implementation of the budget.

The daily obtained a copy of the Finance Ministry’s letter to its education counterpart, confirming that the current financial situation of the State necessitates setting the spending ceilings for all government agencies. The ceiling set for the draft budget for education is KD2,103,809,000 for fiscal 2023/2024. It is worth mentioning that the draft budget of the ministry this year amounted to about KD 2.5 billion — KD400 million higher than the ceiling for the next fiscal year.

The Ministry of Finance stressed the need to submit the draft education budget for the next fiscal year according to the dates specified in the circular, provided it conforms to the information entered into the government financial management system (GFMIS). It warned that all projects submitted to the ministry will be returned in the event of non-compliance with the ceiling stipulated in Article 25 of the general rules of the circular on preparing budget estimates for ministries, government departments and affiliated bodies; in addition to the principles and rules that should be followed in preparing them as per the budget classifications for fiscal 2023/2024.

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