Ministry of Finance (MoF) reveals to public institutions to be realistic on their budget proposal particularly on this critical time.
With the coming year 2021/22 budget period fast approaching, the relevant public offices are discussing with the responsible body to get their preferred amounts for their recurrent and capital budget for the operation that will be executed in the coming year.
On the discussion called by Revenue, Budget and Finance Standing Committee for the coming year budget inquiry of democratic institutions that are responsible for the House of Peoples’ Representatives, have gone on to defended their proposal. While some of them have not tabled their proposals for MoF as per the financial calendar.
Teferi Demeke, Director of Budget Preparation and Administration Directorate at MoF, at the inquiry session said that for coming year that will start on July 8, the budget would be more realistic since the country should have to undertake several priorities.
“Our resource is limited but the demand is very high like any other country. We have to harmonize the demand and the actual resource and give attention to priorities like poverty reduction sectors, which takes up to 70 percent of the annual budget,” the prominent budget experts explained on his response for the budget proposal that was tabled by democratic institutions.
“For the past several years the country revenue is affected in different reasons,” he reminded and adds, “The situation starting from 2016/17 that was hit with political instability reduced the country’s revenue generation which has now been stung some more by the COVID 19 effect. The planned expenses in public offices are supposed to roll to the next year’s budget for execution because of lack of resource, this time round.”
He said the law enforcement for this year has also come up with expenses and humanitarian aid which has also increased unlike other periods.
“The coming year’s budget is compounding with the past years financial burden. We have to see the situation seriously and to be realistic to accelerate the accomplishment of ongoing commitments and focus on developmental projects.”
Teferi explained that the resource envelop is regulated under a single coffer for 190 public bodies due to that any institutions whether they are responsible for the federal government or the parliament are supposed to table their proposal on time.
The budget is regulated by macro economic and fiscal framework and public bodies are supposed to consider the country’s resources.
At the budget inquiry Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, and Secretariat of the House of Peoples’ Representatives have defended their budget proposals.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has requested 211.6 million birr for the 2014 (EC) budget, while the budget projection given by the MoF is 103 million birr. The Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission requested 300.8 million birr that surpassed by 191.2 million birr compared with MoF maximum limit.
The Secretariat of the House of Peoples’ Representatives requested 442.2 million birr and MoF estimate to be 337.9 million birr.
NEBE is expected to receive a budget ceiling of 92 million birr from its demand of 192 million birr.
Teferi supported some of the democratic institutions demand but suggested some others to match with MoF’s projection and said that institutions should carry out their work efficiently and budgeting, taking into account the country’s economic potential.
He urged institutions to reconsider as they have made exaggerated budget requests and to provide adequate documentation and explanation if there is any work that requires more than the budget allocated.
Teferi also said that there is a delay on some institutions to come up with their proposal on financial calendar that may affect the process. “The draft budget proposal for the 2021/22 supposed to be tabled for the Council of Ministers (CoM) by the third week of May as per the calendar,” he insisted the democratic institutions to hurry on their preparation.
As per the financial calendars, MoF would send maximum budget limitation proposal by February 8 for all public institutions and public institutions should come up with their proposal by 45 days based on the limitation given by MoF and it finalize the drafting of the coming year budget bill within 60 days and sent to CoM by the third week of May and the council evaluate it within two weeks and send it to parliament for further evaluation and ratification.
Teferi told Capital that their office would give its entire effort to table the proposal on time for the higher body.
Yayesh Tesfahunegne, Chairperson of the Standing Committee, told Capital that through the Office of House Speaker, the democratic institutions have informed to accomplish their preparation on time.
Ombudsman and the Office of Federal Attorney General are also responsible for the parliament.
NEBE and Ombudsman are democratic institutions that have not filed their proposal for MoF, while they sent to Parliament.
Realistic budgets only, urges MoF
Coffee supply shrinks at ECX
Coffee exporters accessing the bean from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) claim that the supply has shrunken which has affected the fulfillment of their contracts. Meanwhile, the record generation of the bean is expected to hit a billion dollars this current year.
For the claim raise by exporters, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) explained that the vertical market integration has enabled farmers to directly export their products which may reduce the supply in the exchange.
The exchange which accepted the supply reduction also supports the argument of the authority.
Exporters who communicated with Capital claimed that the supply of coffee at the trading floor has reduced from time to time due to that they are unable to do their business as usual trend. They said that the products from western sources are not adequately supplied.
Netsanet Tesfaye, Corporate Communication Head of ECX, said that the supply reduction is not seen not only from the western part of the country but also from all sources.
He said the coffee trading has got additional alternative besides ECX, which is the sole platform to trade the product except some who have a right to do the business separately.
Unions and large scale farmers were allowed to bypass the commodity exchange scheme for export, while the rest are supposed to trade their product through ECX.
“ECX has been considered as one alternative for the coffee trading according to the new policy, thus suppliers or farmers shall directly be connected with exporters without the system of ECX,” Adugna Debela, Director General of ECTA, said.
The Directors General explained in terms of quality, traceability and regarding accessing the bean on time the new scheme has become better since buyers and exporters prefer the system.
“Under the vertical integration last year we have exported 28,000 metric ton in the past budget year but when it comes to the recent performance it has spiked,” he said.
In the first quarter of 2021 the export on vertical integration alone was 100,000 metric tons, “which shows how much it boosts the earnings,” Adugna added.
Actors integrated on the new scheme were 300 in the past budget year which has now reached 2,500. “Due to that the supply to ECX has reduced,” the authority head justified.
The other issue exporters argued is that the illegal trade/ contraband is the other challenge for the access of coffee at the trading floor. They said that suppliers with lower level local government officials involving on the contraband.
Netsanet said that contraband is also one of the problems in the sector, but he said that the authority and Customs Commission are responsible for follow on the same.
Adugna said contraband is an existent problem that is not expected to fully halt but it is necessary to assess the root cause for products channeled on illegal way. “Traders prefer the risky contraband business to get better value since we pay better value for quality products, it is evident that the illegal trade shall crush and that is what we are doing now.”
“Using technology is also enabling to traces the illegal channel. To archive that we have developed tracking software and the implementation process is on the way,” he added.
The authority has targeted to achieve USD one billion earning from the coffee export in the 2020/21 budget year that will end on July 7. Since the new scheme was introduced, the export volume and value has climbed even from the projection.
Netsanet said that the supply of coffee to ECX may have been reduced, the actual export earnings is growing compared with the preceding year.
For instance in March, ECTA has been projected to generate USD 106 million but the actual achievement was USD 107 million. For April, the target was USD 111 million but the earning was USD 114 million.
In related developments, ECX has announced that it will introduce ‘micro lot trading platform’ to trade specialty coffee on once in a month time.
Wondimagegnehu Negera, CEO of ECX, said that the new initiative will enable farmers to sell their high quality coffee directly to interested buyers with extraordinary value.
He said the initiative will encourage farmers to come up with premium coffee that boosts their revenue.
On its inception, farmers who will be involved on the micro lot trading are 52 which also are participants of the 2021 Cup of Excellence.
Kidist Mulugeta, Cup of Excellence Coordinator, on the 2021 Cup of Excellence said, 1848 competitors samples have been submitted and top 150 samples have passed for the second stage and 40 of them are in the final top round.
“So the remaining 110 competitors are eligible for micro lot trading and from them the 52 have agreed to trade their products on the micro lot trading on the trading that will be held on May 31,” Kidist explained.
From the top 40 specialty coffees, who will trade their bean on international online auction on allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org on July 7, the first 30’s have achieved 87 points and above.
The initial price on the international bid is USD 5.5 per pound.
ETHZEMA criticizes gov’t ahead of elections
Ethiopian citizens for social justice party accuse the ruling government on its commitment to building a democratic system, claiming that it is weak.
On press conference given on Thursday May 28, 2021 by ETHZEMA, the party has said that there are many gaps in the current election and the government’s commitment to building a democratic system is weak.
“There have been many problems with our election campaign and the overall process, following the 2021 election campaign, the ruling party continued to be an obstacle to the democratic process,” said ETHZEMA on its statement.
As the party explains, members of the ruling party are working hard to intimidate voter registration which can affect the electorate and voting on Election Day. “There have been various disruptions in the registration process from the beginning of voter registration on March 24, 2021 until April 25, 2021, when the registration was scheduled to be completed,” the party highlights.
Also as the party said, these challenges have continued after the voter registration deadline was extended, “there were incidents of polling station staff such as late opening, closing in the afternoon and disrupting the voter registration process.”
As the accusation of ETHZEMA stated that the first voter registration process has been a major challenge in the so-called polling stations, especially in the Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, South (Omo, Gamo, Gofa, Silte, Kembata, Hadiya, Kefah, Bench Maji) zones. Even in the last few days, the polling stations in these areas have remained virtually unoccupied.
As the officers of the party remarked, some of the problems have been reported to the National Election Board of Ethiopia /NEBE/ and have been resolved, “we have seen positive efforts by the NEBE to address the challenges.”
“We believe that the ruling party has placed forces in the vicinity of the polling station during the voter registration process by doing certain disruptions, including creating an image that there is no difference between prosperity and other parties, going door-to-door trying to force them out of the polling station by giving them their ballot papers and threatening them.”
“Such threats have spread in the community, leading to skepticism and low participation in the election,” the ETHZEMA party stated.
“The ruling party is struggling to implement a system of electing its successor, the EPRDF, which has failed, with one-tenth of the electorate calling it a “prosperous family” without the consent of the electorate,” stated ETHZEMA.
According to the party, in some part of the country voters could not register because they are members or leadership of political parties.
“Particularly in the Southern Region, those who came to register to vote said they could not testify because they were members of a political party or leadership,” the party elaborated.
“On the other hand, we have seen that in the polling stations we visited, people who were not employees of the Electoral Board were sitting and registering as a witness for those who came to register without a document or a witness,” ETHZEMA critiqued.
“We firmly believe that our country can overcome the multifaceted problems by forming a democratically elected government and we will continue to fight and fight until we have a government that is voluntarily appointed and abolished by the people,” said ETHZEMA.
The Ethiopian Kidney Care launch
On the 27th of May, in the presence of the Ministry of Health representatives’, the Ethiopian Kidney Care launched its formation.
“Our non-profit organization is working on the kidney health and kidney disease with a focus on three core goals, which is to; create awareness about kidney diseases and kidney health, research and kidney patient support. The objective of this launching event is to introduce our organization and what it has been doing since its inception and its future projects ahead,” the founder and chair-person of the Ethiopian Kidney Care explained.
The organization is set on a bedrock that envisions to better the lives of people through prevention and proper management of kidney diseases in Ethiopia and further seeks to promote kidney health through awareness creation, disease prevention, education research, support groups and community empowerment to decrease the burden of kidney disease in Ethiopia.
A panel discussion comprised of health professional and patients is one of the components of the program that focuses on kidney disease and its burden on our society.
