WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-01-06 Time: 07:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
Maputo – Mozambican government revenue in 2010 was significantly higher than planned, Finance Minister Manuel Chang announced on Wednesday.
Speaking at a Maputo press conference, Chang said that the target for revenue (essentially tax collection) was revised upwards in November, largely due to changes in the exchange rate of the Mozambican currency, the metical.
Even so, the figures available for the year suggest that final revenue was 103.5 per cent of the revised target, which covered an expenditure overshoot of one per cent. These figures, Chang said, justified the government’s decision not to bring a revised 2010 budget to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
Chang added that revenue was rising by about one per cent of the country’s GDP per year. Currently it stands at 19.5 per cent of GDP. The Minister was optimistic that revenue would soon reach the average figure in SADC (Southern African Development Community) of 22-24 per cent of GDP.
The country’s macro-economic performance in 2010 remained “robust”, Chang said. The government target for economic growth was 6.7 per cent – but in the first three quarters growth was 7.4 per cent.
The revised target for the average annual inflation rate was 12.7 per cent. By the end of November that figure had reached 11.1 per cent, and Chang was confident that the final figures for the year would show that inflation was within the target.
2010 was marked by budgetary uncertainties. The year started with no budget at all, since parliament did not meet in late 2009 due to the general elections of that year. A new budget was not passed until April. To make matters worse, donors went on strike: many of the 19 donors and funding agencies that provide direct support for the Mozambican budget delayed disbursing their funds by several months.
Bur Chang said that, in the end, all the budget support donors had provided the promised money. As for 2011, one major provider of budget support has paid in advance – the World Bank disbursed 85 million dollars in December. The European Commission has promised to disburse its funds for the year in January.
Total budget support for 2010 was around 600 million dollars. It is expected to fall this year to 540 million dollars, partly due to currency fluctuations (many of the 19 budget support partners pay in euros), and to the domestic problems of some donors (most obviously Ireland).
Chang was confident that the funds for budget support will all be disbursed this year – but admitted that, if there was a significant drop in donor contributions, the government would have no alternative but to revise the budget.
Chang announced that the country’s foreign debt stock in 2010 stood at 3.7 billion dollars – but in 2011 this will fall to between 3.1 and 3.2 billion dollars, thanks to debt cancellation negotiated with Algeria.
Debt servicing used to amount to around 100 million dollars a year. But this fell to 49.6 million in 2009 and 56.1 million in 2010. However, Chang expected debt servicing to rise this year to around 80 million dollars a year.
He insisted that the government remains very cautious about taking on further debt. It looks for highly concessionary loans with a repayment period of between 30 and 50 years, a grace period of at least seven years, and interest rates of no more than two per cent.
Chang confirmed that the austerity measures adopted by the government in September (including cuts in government air travel, fuel costs and communications) had saved 3.9 billion meticais (about 114 million US dollars). It was this money that had then been channeled into subsidizing wheat flour and fuel.
The fuel subsidy alone cost 3.5 billion meticais in 2010. Diesel and petrol prices have been frozen since July, even though international fuel prices have continued to march remorselessly upwards – Brent crude is now quoted at over 92 dollars a barrel. Chang admitted that, if the international oil price continues to rise, the government will have no choice but to put up domestic fuel prices.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 5 January 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201101060169.html?viewall=1