Public debt projected to fall to 12.7% of GDP
Monitoring of public debt management is a tool designed to assist development and budget division to identify and correct deviation from desired status.
According to the loan agreements between the Ministry and creditors, the Finance and Development Planning ministry through the division and budget division, has to monitor the implementing agencies through progress reports.
These are to be prepared on quarterly basis to indicate the status of the projects and provide stakeholders with assurance that the funds borrowed from different financiers had been managed with due regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness. In its latest findings, the office of the auditor general observed that the ministry had not availed progress reports.
While others were not availed on time, others were not always forthcoming despite the fact that financiers could not release funds for the next stage of the project before the reports could be submitted to them.
They wanted to be assured that the loan proceeds for specific projects were applied in account with the terms and conditions of the loan agreement.
This was corroborated by internal audit report for the audit conducted on Morupule B and Emergency Power Projects which indicated that there was lack of coordination between Botswana Power Corporation, MFDP and Ministry of Minerals, Wildlife, Environment Resources ‘because monthly and quarterly expenditure reports were not sent between the three stakeholders, so as to expedite the whole process of the spending and monitoring of the funds.’
Additionally, according to a letter from the Ambassador to Ethiopia, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development had raised concern regarding the implementation of Middlepits-Tsabong road project; that is, how far the project was, who the contractor was, who the consultant was and other relevant details as per the requirements of the loan agreement.
They accordingly indicated that since they disbursed funds for the project, the government of Botswana had not furnished them with the report on the status of the project, which management promised to look into.
Botswana’s public debt fell to 14.4 percent of GDP in 2012, down from 17 percent in 2011, and a further decrease to 14.3 percent in 2013.
In 2014, 12.7 percent is expected.
