By Saio Marrah
Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh (PHD) has called on the ministry of finance to develop a pricing formula for rice and flour in order to ascertain the profit margin of the businesses.
The Vice President called on the finance ministry to do that in collaboration with the ministry of trade to avoid the persistent over pricing of the two commodities.
He said this during his keynote address at the launch of the government's 2024 Financial Year budget hearing, held at the Brookfields Hotel in Freetown, on Friday 6th October 2023.
He said in the absence of a pricing formula any finance ministry increase in taxes on those commodities, would certainly shift the burden on to the consumers and not the business entities.
“So when you ascertain the profit margin of the businesses, it gives you an opportunity to renegotiate. You can say for example the government can take the one percent, the people at the quay can sacrifice the 20% and the business man can take the 40 or 60%,” he noted.
The VP suggestion comes in the wake of the 20% percent increase in government revenue, which the ministry of finance intends to undertake.
According to him, without the formulation of a standard pricing of the two essential commodities, the poor will be adversely affected.
He therefore called for “a round table dialogue on that” so that in the case of any price increase the ministry would be able to know where it emanated.
“Or else if you don’t have that dialogue and develop a mechanism believe me it is going to be additional exploitation,” he noted.
He said the measure would deter business owners from just getting up in the morning and increase the prices of goods unilaterally.
He added: “If is foreign currency their problem, then the government can help them get foreign currency.”
He therefore called on the ministry of trade and the finance ministry to focus on a mechanism that would stabilize those critical commodities.
For the government to generate more revenue, the VP advised the ministry of finance to create a competitive enabling environment for the private sector and businesses to grow.
While calling on the finance ministry to think critically about the obstacles in doing business in the country, Dr. Jalloh also pointed out that the quay is also a problem.
He also pointed out that how government ministries treat investors coming into the country can impact the growth of the economy. He said most times, investors go to some ministries, spend days without any progress.
He therefore emphasized efficiency, noting that efficiency has a price. The more self-efficiency one is, the more economically valuable the individual is, he said.
Finance Minister, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, in his statement, noted that the 2024 budget is geared towards consolidating the gains made during the first term of the President Julius Maada Bio led administration.
He also noted that his ministry would not just be dishing out the budget, but ministries must also tell how they would be generating their own revenue.
He urged ministries to present their policy plan to the Ministry of Planning and Development (MOPED) against a deadline or else there would be no budget to the defaulting ministries. Policy plan, he said, will tell how they had undertaken their projects for the last financial year before the approval of the budget.
Bangura noted that the national development plan is a key component to take the development of the country forward.
Copyright © 2023 (09/10/23)
