The
Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Amadou Sanneh has said that the
government will sell the four presidential planes belonging to former President
Yahya Jammeh
In
addition to the planes, the government will also sell other assets including
the some lands within the tourism development area to generate some
investments.
The
Finance minister made this statement on Thursday at the National Assembly in
Banjul while tabling the draft revised 2017 budget of the government.
“The
other measures that we put in place include recapturing of previous diverted
non-tax revenue,” he said, adding that plans are also underway to vigorously
pursue stolen assets of the government through all available channels including
the assistance of World Bank Stolen Assets Recovery Unit.
“We
have discussion with this unit and they are willing to assist The Gambia to
recover identified stolen assets of this country,” he said.
The
minister of finance said that during the period 2011-2016, average real GDP
growth moderated to 24 per cent.
He
said the decline in the average real GDP growth was the result of shocks in the
two main growth driving sectors of the country: agriculture and tourism.
Since
2011, the Gambia’s agricultural sector contribution has consistently declined,
from 24 per cent to 21 per cent in 2016.
“The
services sector, on the contrary, has seen its contribution increased from 62
per cent in 2011 to 66 per cent in 2016, whilst contribution of industry was
marginally down to 14 per cent from 15 per cent in 2015,” Minister Sanneh said.
“This
signals inadequate transformation and diversification of the country, hence
increasing the vulnerabilities of the economy to external shocks in the two
mayor sectors of the country.”
The
minister said the 2017 budget has been revised in order to address the debts
and the bad economic situation the new government has inherited.
Sanneh
said the government has inherited a ballooning of the public debt from 83.3 per
cent to 120 per cent of GDP between 2013 and 2016.
The
country has a total of D48 million debt at the end of 2016.
“Second
issue is the depletion of the domestic foreign reserves to less than two months
import, and thirdly there was abuse of state enterprises such as Gamtel, Social
Security, Nawec and others through embezzlement of funds to the tune of D4.7
billion within this last three years,” he said.
On
the sand mining sector, Finance Minister Sanneh said this is part of the funds
diverted by the former president and his allies out of the government budget
for their private use.
There
was also the use of government funds to purchase 44 pick-ups for use by the
APRC party in 2011, he said.
The
finance minister said the new government intends to prioritise macro-economic
stability with emphasis on addressing the debts situation.
